Solidago ludoviciana

Louisiana Goldenrod

Solidago ludoviciana (A. Gray) Small is native to dry open woods, edges of woods near roads, and railroad embankments in the western portion of the southeastern U.S.  It is rhizomatous (slender stoloniferous and deep seated) the leaves have tapering bases and the upper stem leaves are quickly reduced, ascending to appressed (Semple & Cook 2006 FNA).  It shares the rhizome features with S. tarda.  It is a member of the S. arguta complex (S. subsect. Argutae; Semple & Beck 2021) and was included in the multivariate analysis of the complex (Semple et al. 2021). Both diploids and tetraploids occur in S. ludoviciana. Semple and Morton (2024) presented a map of the cytogeography of S. ludoviciana.

Nesom (2009) stated that S. dispersa Small was the correct name for this species, but G.H. Morton annotated the type of Solidago dispersa as possibly being S. arguta introgressed with S. ulmifolia or S. speciosa.  The inflorescence of the holotype is not the same as that of the many collections of S. ludoviciana I have seen.  I agree with Gary Morton that S. dispersa is not the same as S. ludoviciana and that the latter name is the correct one to used for this species.