Solidago missouriensis

           
Low Goldenrod

G. F. Ledingham Herbarium
University of Regina

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Missouriensis: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this species.  
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plants generally taller than 0.5-2.0 (3.0) dm tall

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plants mostly 2-4 dm tall; NOT 5-15 dm tall

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stems mostly glabrous below the inflorescence; NOT [mostly pubescent or puberulent]

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leaves glabrous; NOT [gray pubescent or puberulent]

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a basal rosette often present; NOT [absent, or reduced and soon withered]

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basal leaves much longer than stem leaves

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lower stem leaves well developed; NOT [absent, or reduced and soon withered]

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stem leaves reduced upwards; NOT [stem leafiest from about the middle, and only gradually or scarcely reduced upward]

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petiole of the basal leaves NOT conspicuously ciliate

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lower and middle stem leaves to 10 cm long; NOT [usually 20 cm or more long]

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lower and middle stem leaves 15 mm wide; NOT 20-75 mm wide

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lower stem leaves narrowly oblanceolate; NOT [leaves lanceolate]

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lower and middle stem leaves entire or obscurely dentate; NOT clearly serrate

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lower and middle stem leaves distinctly 3-nerved

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inflorescence a panicle with more or less spreading or arching branches; inflorescence NOT [racemose, with branches ascending along the stem]; inflorescence NOT [corymbose, with the branches slanting upward, forming a rounded or flat-topped inflorescence]

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heads often secund on the branches

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heads NOT glutinous

 
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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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plants with fibrous roots; NOT with a taproot

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juice watery; NOT milky

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leaves alternate or basal; NOT opposite

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leaves simple; NOT pinnatifid, NOT divided

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leaves never spinescent

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

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involucral bracts in 2 or more series; NOT [in one series, sometimes with a few much shorter outer ones at the base]

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involucral bracts well imbricated; NOT scarcely imbricated

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receptacle naked

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flower heads with both tubular and ray florets

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ligulate flowers pistillate or neuter; NOT perfect

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ray florets yellow; NOT [pink, blue, purple, or white]

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stamens united to form a tube around the pistil

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

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pappus single, hairs sometimes unequal but not distinctly divided into an inner and outer series of two lengths; NOT [pappus double, hairs of the outer series inconspicuous, distinctly shorter than the inner]