1.
Solidago multiradiata
Aiton, Hort. Kew. 3: 218. 1789.
Northern or Rocky Mountain goldenrod , verge d'or à rayons nombreux
Aster multiradiatus
(Aiton) Kuntze;
Solidago algida
Piper;
S. cusickii
Piper;
S. dilatata
A. Nelson; S. multiradiata
var.
arctica
(de Candolle) Fernald;
S. multiradiata
var.
scopulorum
A. Gray;
S. rubra
Rydberg;
S. scopulorum
(A. Gray) A. Nelson;
S. virgaurea
Linnaeus var.
arctica
de Candolle;
S. virgaurea
Linnaeus var.
multiradiata
(Aiton) Torrey & A. Gray
Plants
(3—)10—30(—80) cm; caudices branched.
Stems
1—10(—30+), decumbent to erect, slender, tufted, proximally glabrous or sparsely hairy, densely short-hispido-strigose in arrays.
Leaves:
basal and proximal cauline petiolate; petioles winged, margins ciliate; blades linear-oblanceolate to spatulate, 10—170 × 3—30 mm, serrate to crenate near apices; distal cauline sessile; blades sometimes subclasping stems, ovate to linear-lanceolate, 16—20 × 7—11 mm, margins often distinctly ciliate.
Heads
4—75(—100+) , not secund, in dense, round-topped corymbiform arrays; branches white villous.
Peduncles
5—6 mm, villous; bracteoles 0—2, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate.
Involucres
4—8 mm.
Phyllaries
unequal to subequal, outer linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, lengths ±
2
/ 3 inner, margins ciliate, apices acute to attenuate.
Ray florets
12—18; laminae 3—4 × 0.5—1 mm.
Disc florets
10—35; corollas 3—5 mm, lobes 0.3—1 mm.
Cypselae
1.5—4 mm, sparsely to moderately strigose;
pappi
3—4 mm (inner bristles clavate).
2
n
= 18, 36.
Flowering Jul—Sep. Tundra and tundralike habitats, alpine slopes and meadows; 0—3700 m; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., N.S., Nunavut, Ont., Que., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Ariz., Calif., Colo., Idaho, Mont., N.Mex., Oreg., Utah, Wash., Wyo.
Solidago multiradiata
is the North American species most closely related to
S. virgaurea
, the type species of the genus, native to mostly arctic and alpine regions of Eurasia. Plants of
S. multiradiata
from the Rocky Mountains have been treated as var.
scopulorum
; they differ so little from those of other parts of the range that recognition of the variety without further support does not appear justified.
Solidago heterophylla
Nuttall ex A. Gray is an invalid name (pro synonym of
S. multiradiata
var.
scopulorum
) that pertains here.
