Solidago chrysopsis

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.

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.