Plants 50-150 cm; rhizomes creeping, elongated, sparsely scaly. Stems 1-20+, erect (stout), conspicuously spreading-hirsute, at least distally. Leaves: basal and proximal cauline usually withering by flowering except on new shoots, tapering to broadly winged petioles, blades oblanceolate, 30-50 × 8-15 mm, rapidly increasing in size distally, margins shallowly serrate, scabroso-strigose, faces often more densely hairy than distal; mid to distal cauline numerous, crowded, sessile, blades lanceolate-ovate to elliptic-oblong, larger ones 35-120 × 8-35 mm, much reduced distally, bases broad and ± clasping, margins obscurely serrulate or entire, faces usually moderately hirsuto-villous on midnerves, often less so abaxially, adaxial sparsely strigose or glabrous. Heads 35-500, in paniculiform arrays, usually dense, branches recurved-secund. Peduncles 2-8 mm, sparsely to moderately strigillose; bracteoles 1-3, linear to linear-lanceolate, tending to group proximal to involucres, sometimes grading into phyllaries. Involucres narrowly campanulate, 3.5-5.5 mm. Phyllaries in 4-5 series, unequal, glabrous; outer narrowly ovate-lanceolate, mid and inner linear-lance-olate. Ray florets (2-)4-10; laminae 1.2-2.5 × 0.2-0.5 mm. Disc florets (2-)4-7; corollas 4-5 mm, lobes 0.5-1 mm. Cypselae (narrowly obconic) 1.5-1.8 mm, sparsely strigillose, sometimes only apically; pappi 3-4 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering Aug-Oct(-Nov; year-round s). Mostly wetter sandy soils, seepage areas, boggy grounds, edges of marshes and thickets, open pine woodlands, roadside ditches; 0-100 m; N.S.; Ala., Del., Fla., Ga., La., Md., Miss., N.J., N.C., Pa., S.C., Va.

Solidago fistulosa grows mainly on the coastal plains. It was introduced at Stone Mountain, Georgia. Solidago pyramidata Pursh may be a synonym of S. fistulosa.

Stems 7-15 dm from long creeping rhizomes, stout, conspicuously spreading-hirsute, at least above the middle; lvs chiefly cauline, numerous, crowded, strongly hirsute on the midrib beneath, and often less densely so across the surface, less hairy or more often glabrous above, sessile, broad-based and somewhat clasping, lance-ovate to elliptic-oblong, obscurely serrulate or subentire, the larger ones 3.5-12 נ1-3.5 cm; infl paniculiform, usually dense, with recurved-secund branches; invol glabrous, 3.5-5 mm, its bracts thin and slender; rays 7-12, small; disk fls 4-7; achenes short-hairy; 2n=18. Wet or dry places, often in pinelands; N.J. to Fla. and La., mainly on the coastal plain.

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

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