Solidago rigida

           
Stiff Goldenrod

Inflorescence

Moosomin Regional Park
20-August-2004

Note the cymose clusters of flower heads.  The branches of the inflorescence have been separated somewhat in this photograph.  Therefore the actual inflorescence is somewhat tighter than appears here.

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Rigida:  Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this species.  
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stems rigid

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stems gray puberulent or pubescent; NOT glabrous

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leaves firm, thick, and rigid

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leaves very rough, gray pubescent; NOT glabrous

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leaves oblong to oval; NOT linear to lanceolate

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heads in dense cymose clusters, these arranged in a flat-topped or corymb-like inflorescence; heads NOT racemose, heads NOT panicled with racemose branches

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branches of inflorescence slanting upward; NOT arching

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heads pedicellate; NOT sessile

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involucral bracts longitudinally striate

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ray florets usually less than 5 mm long; NOT 5-8 mm long

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ray florets yellow; NOT white, NOT pale yellow

 
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Solidago: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this genus. 
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fibrous-rooted, NOT tap-rooted

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juice watery; NOT milky

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leaves alternate; NOT opposite

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leaves simple; NOT pinnatifid, NOT divided

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heads small and numerous, in terminal or axillary clusters; NOT solitary at ends of branches

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involucral bracts in 2 or more series; NOT in one series; NOT in one series with a few very much shorter outer bracts at base

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involucral bracts well imbricated; NOT scarcely imbricated

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receptacle naked; NOT chaffy or bristly

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flower heads with both tubular and ray florets; NOT all tubular; NOT all ray

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ray (ligulate) florets either pistillate or neutral; NOT perfect

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ray florets yellow; NOT blue, NOT purple, NOT white to pink

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stamens united to form a tube around the pistil

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pappus simple (bristles sometimes unequal, but not distinctly divided into two lengths); NOT double (outer inconspicuous and very much shorter than the inner)

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pappus composed of hairs; NOT composed of scales or bristles, NOT chaffy, NOT of firm awns, NOT absent