Plants 20-100 cm; caudices branching. Stems 1(-5), erect, usually branching only in array, moderately to densely hispido-villous. Leaves: basal and proximal cauline tapering to winged petioles, blades oblanceolate to ovate, 35-210 × 15-50 mm, margins serrate or crenate, apices acute, sparsely to moderately soft hispido-villous, more densely so on abaxial nerves; rosettes on rhizome branches sometimes present at flowering; mid and distal cauline sessile, blades elliptic, 15-50 × 5-15 mm, distally reduced, margins entire. Heads 12-270 (1-15 per branch) in usually wand-shaped paniculiform arrays , of short axillary and terminal racemiform, non-secund clusters, sometimes proximal branches elongated, ascending and bearing short axillary and terminal racemiform clusters. Peduncles 1.5-2.5 mm, hispido-villous to canescent. Involucres campanulate, 3-5 mm. Phyllaries in 3-4 series, appressed, strongly unequal, oblong, margins white, scarious, apices obtuse to rounded. Ray florets 7-9 (white); laminae 3.5-4 × 1-1.5 mm. Disc florets 9-12; corollas 3-4 mm, lobes 0.6-1.2 mm. Cypselae (narrowly obconic) 1.5-2.5 mm, smooth or with 5-8 narrow, darker, sunken striations, glabrous or sparsely strigose; pappi 2.5-3.5 mm (sometimes strongly clavate). 2n =18.

Flowering Aug-Oct. Sandy and clay soils, dry open woods, rocky slopes, disturbed soils; 0-1000+ m; N.B., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., Ga., Ill., Ind., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Miss., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.

Much like no. 8 [Solidago hispida Muhl.], but with white or whitish rays; invol 3-5 mm, its bracts whitish or light straw-colored except for the generally well defined light green tip; 2n=18. Dry woods and open, often rocky places; N.S. and Que. to Wis., s. to Ga. and La. Hybridizes with nos. 8 [Solidago hispida Muhl.] and 10 [Solidago erecta Pursh].

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

I am following other authors in maintaining this goldenrod and the next [Solidago hispida] as [separate] species although I do not believe they are of specific rank. I believe this species is only an albino form of Solidago hispida. I prefer to regard it as a fertile strain of S. hispida that has lost its power to produce yellow rays. I think this assumption is supported by the fact that there is a general reduction of the number of rays in the colorless forms. I have tried to separate this plant from the next one and I find that all characters used by other authors fail. Outside of Jefferson County S. bicolor is restricted chiefly to the unglaciated area of the state and is only rarely found a few miles outside of it. It is rather local and is found only on the crests and slopes of oak ridges or rarely in fallow fields.

……

Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 8

Wetland Indicator Status: N/A