Skunk or Blue Ridge Goldenrod
Solidago spithamaea M. A. Curtis ex A. Gray occurs in rock crevices of exposed outcrops at the highest elevations in the Appalachian Mts. in North Carolina and Tennessee. Plants can have a slight skunkish odor.
Solidago spithamaea is listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The species is extant at only three locations; all other known populations were extirpated. It is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants ().
The species is a hexaploid (2n=54; Semple & Chmielewski 2022). It seems likely that it is a derivative of S. multiradiata and evolved from plants left behind in the southern Appalachians as the Wisconsin Glaciation retreated north. In a multivariate analysis, S. spithamaea separated strongly from S. multiradiata and S. leiocarpa (Semple et al. 2020).
Semple, J.C., Y. Ma, L. Tong, and M. Sorour. 2020. A multivariate morphometric analysis of Solidago sect. Solidago and S. sect. Multiradiatae (Asteraceae: Astereae). Phytoneuron 2020-38: 1–59.
Semple, J.C., and J.G. Chmielewski. 2022. Cytogeography of Solidago sect. Multiradiatae (Asteraceae: Astereae). Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 107: 153–159.
Last revised 19 May 2025 by J.C. Semple
© 2025 J.C. Semple, including all photographs unless otherwise indicated.
1-4. Solidago spithamaea. 1. Habitat, Grandfather Mt. North Carolina. 2. Habit, Semple 11868, Avery Co., North Carolina. 3. Stem and leaves, Semple 11869, Avery Co., North Carolina. Inflorescence, S 11868.