Solidago altissima var. altissima

Eastern Late Goldenrod

Solidago altissima var. altissima is the very common late flowering goldenrod of fields, disturbed areas, and roadside in much of eastern North America from southeastern Manitoba to New Brunswick south to eastern Oklahoma and northern Georgia.  It is distinguished by its broadly secund pyramidal inflorescence from var. pluricephala which typically has an elongated often narrow secund pyramidal inflorescence. It has been treated as S. canadensis var. scabra (Muhl.) Torr. & A. Gray.  It is hexploid throughout its range with a few tetraploids reported from the southwestern corner of the range (Semple 2022; see map for S. altissima).

Solidago altissima var. altissima has naturalized in China and Japan and can be locally common and an aggressive invader.  It is hexaploid in eastern Asia.  Semple & Uesugi (2017) confirmed the presence of var. altissima in New Zealand.