Leaves: basal sometimes present (rosettes) at flowering, proximalmost cauline petiolate, often present at flowering, largest, not 3-nerved. Heads secund in open, secund, cone-shaped arrays, lowest branches often elongate and repeating pattern, not stipitate-glandular. Phyllaries not striate, eglandular. Pappus bristles usually in 2 series (inner usually moderately clavate).

Distribution

e North America.

Discussion

Species 9 (9 in the flora).

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Solidago (sect. Solidago) ser. Argutae, Solidago (sect. Solidago) ser. Auriculatae, Solidago (sect. Solidago) ser. Brachychaeta

Key

1	Leaves minutely scabrous, puberulent or short-villous	> 2
1	Leaves glabrous or nearly so	> 4
2	Leaves scabrous on abaxial faces (hairs short with swollen bases); bogs and swamps	Solidago patula
2	Leaves soft-villous or puberulent	> 3
3	Rays usually 7–12; leaves moderately to densely short-villous; spring blooming; coastal plain of North Carolina, South Carolina	Solidago verna
3	Rays 0–(1–2); leaves densely and finely puberulent; fall blooming; open woods, coastal plain and piedmont; North Carolina to Alabama (possibly Mississippi)	Solidago brachyphylla
4	Phyllaries striate, several nerves enlarged; involucres 4.5–6(–7) mm; Kentucky, West Virginia	Solidago faucibus
4	Phyllaries not striate, only main nerve enlarged (very rarely more striate in S. arguta); involucres 2.5–5.6 mm	> 5
5	Plants without slender stoloniferous rhizomes	Solidago arguta
5	Plants with slender stoloniferous rhizomes in addition to main, deeper rhizomes or caudices	> 6
6	Proximal leaves elliptic to obovate (ovate), acute or obtuse, with narrowly attenuate bases; distal cauline leaves quickly reduced, ascending to appressed	Solidago ludoviciana
6	Proximal leaves mostly ovate, acute to acuminate, with truncate to obtuse bases; distal cauline leaves gradually reduced, rarely appressed	Solidago tarda