À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ

Solidago altissimaÌý±¹²¹°ù.Ìýpluricephala M.C. Johnston is the common late flowering goldenrod of the southeastern U.S. occurring from southern Texas to southeastern Virginia. It also occurs in scattered locations further west in New Mexico and eastern Arizona. This was not recognized by Semple & Cook (2006 FNA). The multivariate study of the S. altissima complex by Semple et al. (2015) indicated that there is a somewhat distinctive race of the species in the southeast that had been included in a broadly defined subsp./±¹²¹°ù.Ìýaltissima.  ³Õ²¹°ù.Ìý±è±ô³Ü°ù¾±³¦±ð±è³ó²¹±ô²¹Ìýoften has elongated narrow inflorescences compared to ±¹²¹°ù.Ìýaltissima; also, the upper stem leaves tend to be more reduced in size than in ±¹²¹°ù.Ìýaltissima. The narrow inflorescence is similar to those of S. leavenworthii. Intermediates between ±¹²¹°ù.Ìýaltissima and ±¹²¹°ù.Ìýpluricephala occur in the broad zone of sympatry.  The variety has leaves that are less densely hairy than those of ±¹²¹°ù.Ìýgilvocanescens. The variety is mostly hexaploid (2n=54), but tetraploids (2n=36) occur across the southern portion of the range (Semple 2022; see map for S. altissima).

Cheek and Semple (2016) reported the occurrence of S. altissima ±¹²¹°ù.Ìýpluricephala in South Africa as an invasive. Semple and Rao (2017) documented the presence of ±¹²¹°ù.Ìý±è±ô³Ü°ù¾±³¦±ð±è³ó²¹±ô²¹Ìýin southern India.  Semple and Uesugi (2017) documented the presence of ±¹²¹°ù.Ìýpluricephala in Australia, Tonga and Hawaii.

³Õ²¹°ù.Ìýpluricephala was included in a multivariate study on the recently described S. veracruzensis native to Esto. Veracruz, Mexico. Individuals of S. veracruzensis can look quite similar to individuals of ±¹²¹°ù.Ìýpluricephala but the former has broader phyllaries (usually 0.6-0.8 mm wide) than those of the latter.  Upper stem leaves of S. veracruzensis are similarly reduced like those of ±¹²¹°ù.Ìýplucricephala but are more likely to be serrate.

Cheek, M. D. and J.C. Semple. 2016. First official record of naturalised populations of Solidago altissima L. ±¹²¹°ù.Ìýpluricephala M.C. Johnst. (Asteraceae: Astereae) in Africa.  South Afr. J. Bot. 105: 333-336. 

Semple, J.C. and K. Sankara Rao. 2017.  Solidago altissimaÌý±¹²¹°ù.Ìýpluricephala (Asteraceae: Astereae) in India. Phytoneuron 2017-32. 1-7.

Semple, J.C. and A. Uesugi.  2017.  Solidago altissima var. pluricephala (Asteraceae: Astereae) in Australia, Tonga and Hawaii.  Phytoneuron 2017-40: 1–16. 

Semple, J.C.  2018.  Solidago veracruzensis, a new species of goldenrod in S.Ìý²õ³Ü²ú²õ±ð³¦³Ù.ÌýTriplinerviae (Asteraceae: Astereae) from Mexico. Phytoneuron 2018-52: 1–18.

Semple, J.C. 2022. The cytogeography of Solidago altissima in North America (Asteraceae: Astereae).  Phytoneuron. 2022-17: 1-14. 

Last revised 26 May 2025 by J.C. Semple

© 2025 J.C. Semple, including all photographs unless otherwise indicated