Large-leaved Goldenrod , verge d’or à grandes feuilles

Solidago macrophylla Banks ex Pursh is the only member of S. sect. Solidago native to North America (northern central Ontario, much of Québec and Newfoundland, and south in the mountains of New England and New York).  It was treated as a member of S. subsect. Glomeruliflorae in by Semple and Cook (2006 FNA) and included in the multivariate study of the subsection by Cook et al. (2009).  The species was placed in S. ser. Macrophyllae Semple & J.B. Beck in Semple et al. (2020) based on unpublished DNA sequence data (Beck et al. in prep.).  In the multivariate study of S. sect. Solidago by Semple et al. (2020), all 13 specimens of S. macrophylla were assigned a posteriori to S. macrophylla with very high probability.  Solidago macrophylla is the likely sister species to the entire Euasian branch of the genus (the S. virgaurea complex sensu lato).

Solidago macrophylla range Cook & Semple draft

It is diploid (2n=18) but has large heads (Cook and Semple 2008).