Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

DOWNY GOLDENROD

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Solidago petiolaris W.T. Aiton

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 1- 5 feet

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: August, September,October

Stems:

Erect, solitary or clustered, nearly glabrous below, short-hairy above.

Leaves:

Numerous, alternate, simple, short-stalked to sessile, lance-linear to narrowly ovate, 1 to 6 inches long, .25 to 1.25 inches wide, thick, firm, glabrous or pubescent; margins entire to toothed, fringed with minute hairs; basal leaves absent at flowering; stem leaves about equal in size, scarcely reduced upward.

Inflorescences:

Narrow, somewhat elongate, cylindric; usually leafy-bracted; lower branches not downward curving; heads borne on both sides of branches, to 1/3 inch tall; bracts pointed, lightly pubescent to glandular-hairy or sometimes glabrous.

Flowers:

Ray florets 5-11, yellow; disk florets 10-16, yellow.

Fruits:

Achenes, glabrous, tipped with numerous white bristles, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Open rocky woodlands and escarpments, on sandy or limestone sites.

Distribution:

East 3/4 of Kansas.

Comments:

Downy goldenrod often grows in dense bunches.

Downy goldenrod inflorescence