Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Peat-loving Goldenrod - Solidago aestivalis   Bicknell
Members of Asteraceae:
Members of Solidago with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 6 » Family Asteraceae
AuthorBicknell
DistributionMainly Sandhills; disjunct to Henderson County in the southern Mountains. Other reports and specimens are based on misidentifications. This is a recent split elevating S. rugosa var. sphagnophila to full species status.

Mostly Coastal Plain, N.S. to SC.
AbundanceVery poorly known by botanists and other biologists, as this is a recent split off of the large complex named as S. rugosa. Rare to uncommon in the Sandhills, and very rare in the southern Mountains. It is considered as a Watch List species.
HabitatWet peaty (sphagnum moss) ecotones of blackwater streamheads (within Longleaf Pine-Wiregrass ecosystem), montane seepage bog (Henderson Co.).
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting August-October.
IdentificationPeat-loving Goldenrod is tall (4-6 feet) and leafy, the whole plant glabrous or glabrate. Plants grow from long horizontal rhizomes. It closely resembles S. latissimifolia, but differs in having scattered (sparse to moderately numerous), appressed, straight, white hairs on the leaf undersides that diverge 90 degrees from the midvein and side-veins. Also, the middle involucral bracts are definitely pointed (vs. blunt or rounded in S. latissimifolia). Weakley (2018) also states that this species has mid-stem leaves widest below the middle (i.e., lanceolate or ovate), as opposed to widest in the middle (elliptical) in S. latissimifolia.
Taxonomic CommentsA synonym is S. rugosa var. sphagnophila. For more details on this species, see Sorrie (2018).

Other Common Name(s)None
State RankS1? [S2?] *
Global RankG5T3T5 [G3G5]
State StatusW7
US Status
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USACE-emp
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