Solidago

views updated

Solidago (golden rod; family Compositae) A genus of perennial herbs, with stalkless, simple leaves, and small, yellow flower heads in panicles. The bracts of the involucre of the flower heads overlap in many rows. The heads have both yellow (female or neuter) ray-florets and bisexual disc-florets. The achenes are many-ribbed, and have a pappus of ciliate hairs. S. canadensis and S. gigantea are much grown in gardens for their showy, golden panicles of flower heads, but Solidago species are regarded as weeds in parts of the USA. There are some 100 species, mostly American, but some European and Asian.