Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

CANADA GOLDENROD

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Solidago canadensis L.

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 1-6 feet

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: July, August, September

Stems:

Erect, solitary to loosely clustered, mostly unbranched, hairy.

Leaves:

Numerous, alternate, simple, short-stalked to sessile, narrowly lanceolate to elliptic, 1 to 6 inches long, to 1 inch wide, thin, conspicuously 3-nerved, usually minutely-hairy below, rough or nearly glabrous above; margins shallowly toothed; tips pointed; lower leaves often absent at flowering.

Inflorescences:

Panicle-like, open or dense, cone-shaped or inverted cone-shaped; lower branches downward curving; heads usually only on upper side of branches, cylindric, to 1/4 inch wide; bracts thin, linear, yellowish; tips green, pointed.

Flowers:

Ray florets 5-18, less than 1/8 inch long, yellow; disk florets 2-8, yellow; stigmas shaped like spear points.

Fruits:

Achenes, tiny, short-hairy, tipped with numerous, whitish, hair-like bristles, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Open, damp or drying sites, hillsides, thickets, banks of streams, disturbed areas, and open woods.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Uses:

Native Americans used the flowers to make a medicinal tea used to treat fevers, diarrhea, and insomnia.

Comments:

Canada goldenrod commonly is encountered and quite variable. It is erroneously linked with hay fever; insects spread the pollen, not the wind.