Solidago squarrosa

Stout goldenrod , verge d’or squarreuse

Solidago squarrosa Muhl. is native to the northeastern US and adjacent Canada.  The species is distinguished by it cylindrical involucres with squarrose phyllaries (Semple & Cook 2006 FNA) and is one of the most easily recognized species in subsect. Squarrosae.  The species is diploid 2n=18. Semple and Cook (2022) published cytogeography maps for S. squarrosa and related species.

The range shown below has some gaps that need confirmation, e.g. northern New York.

Solidago squarrosa range Semple draft

Solidago squarrosa was found to be one of the most distinct species in subsect. Squarrosae in a multivariate analysis including 14 species of the subsection focusing on the S. speciosa complex (Semple et al. 2017) and was strongly separated in a second analysis of just five species of subsection Squarrosae (Semple et al. 2017). Semple and Beck (2021) placed the species by itself in a very much reduced S. sect. Squarrosae; nearly all other species previously included in S. subsect. Squarrosae were placed in S. sect. Erectae.

Semple, J.C., L. Tong, and Y.A. Chong.  2017.  Multivariate studies of Solidago subsect. Squarrosae. I. The Solidago speciosa complex (Asteraceae: Astereae).  Phytoneuron 2017-18: 1–23.

Semple, J.C., L. Tong, and Y.A. Chuong.  2017.  Multivariate studies of Solidago subsect. Squarrosae.  III. S. georgiana, S. porteri, S. roanensis, S. squarrosa and S. villosicarpa (Asteraceae: Astereae).  Phytoneuron 2017-55: 1–17.

Semple, J.C. and J.B. Beck. 2021. A revised infrageneric classification of Solidago (Asteraceae: Astereae). Phytoneuron 2021‑10. 1‑6.

Semple, J.C. and R.E. Cook. 2022. The cytogeography of Solidago sect. Erectae, sect. Villosicarpae, sect. Squarrosae, and sect. Brintonia (Asteraceae: Astereae).  Taxonomy 2: 261–278.

Last update 4 July 2022 by J.C. Semple     

© 2022 J.C. Semple, including all photographs unless otherwise indicated