Southern Bog and Cliff Goldenrod
Solidago simulansÌýFernald is native to higher elevations in the mountains in southern North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and adjacent Georgia and southwestern Virginia and scattered locations further east on the Piedmont in North Carolina.Ìý A few collections from northwestern and south central North Carolina have been treated asÌýS. uliginosa, but are atypical for that species and fit better inÌýS. simulans. These plants would be very atypical inÌýS. austrina.Ìý The western populations grow in seepage on granitic cliff tops and slopes; the eastern ones grow in peat-sedge bog habitats. The species is tetraploid (2n=36).
Arthur Cronquist (1980) treatedÌýS. simulansÌýas a "broad-leaved extreme ofÌýS.Ìýgracillima, approachingÌýS.Ìýuliginosa."Ìý Semple & Cook (2006 FNA) noted underÌýS. uliginosaÌýthatÌýS. simulansÌýmight warrant recognition as a narrowly distributed endemic, which is done here. Solidago simulansÌýis very similar toÌýS. uliginosaÌývar. uliginosaÌýand would never be confused withÌýS. gracillima.Ìý Plants I have seen in the field in Highland Co., North Carolina have larger and more bluish-green basal leaves thanÌýS. uliginosa. Semple et al. (2019) comparedÌýS. austrina,ÌýS. simulansÌýandÌýS. uliginosaÌýin a multivariate study and found support for recognizing all three as separate species.
Semple, J.C., T. Shea, H. Rahman, Y. Ma, and L. Tong.Ìý 2019.Ìý A multivariate morphometric analysis of theÌýSolidago uliginosaÌýcomplex (Asteraceae: Astereae;ÌýS.Ìýsubsect.ÌýMaritimae) in eastern North America.Ìý Phytoneuron 2019-48: 1–44.
Last revised 12 April 2025 by J.C. SempleÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý
© 2025 J.C. Semple, including all photographs unless otherwise indicated.
1-4. Solidago simulans, top of Whiteside Mt., Jackson Co., North Carolina. 1. Habitat. 2. Robust plant. 3. Basal rosette. 5. Heads.