Florida Keys Goldenrod
Solidago chrysopsis Small is native to shallow sandy soils over limestone in subtropical South Florida and the Florida Keys. It was treated as a diminuitive form of S. virgata (under the misapplied name S. stricta) growing on limestone in FNA (Semple & Cook 2006 FNA). In a multi-variate study (Semple et al. 2016), S. chrysopsis was found to be sufficiently distinct to justify recognizing it as a separate species It is distinguished by having linear to very linear basal rosette leaves and very reduced upper stem leaves. The species is diploid 2n=18 (Semple and Cook 2022).
In a multivariate analysis of the S. stricta complex, S. chrysopsis was found to be well differentiated on several traits from S. virgata. A collection of the species from Highland Co., Florida included in the analysis was thought to likely be introduced from further south in Dade Co.
Semple, J.C., T. Shea, M. El-Swesi, H. Rahman, and Y. Ma. 2016. A multivariate study of the Solidago stricta complex (Asteraceae: Astereae: S. subsect. Maritimae). Phytoneuron 2016-86. 1-34.
Semple, J.C. and R.E. Cook. 2022. Cytogeography of Solidago sect. Maritimae (Asteraceae: Astereae). Ann. Mo. Bot. Garden 107: 21-31.
Last update 3 February 2022 by J.C. Semple
© 2022 J.C. Semple, including all photographs unless otherwise indicated