DOWNY GOLDENROD
File Size: 145 KB
 
Solidago petiolaris  W.T. Aiton
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 1- 5 feet
Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family
Flowering Period:   August, September,October
Stems: Erect, solitary or clustered, nearly glabrous below, short-hairy above.
Leaves: Numerous, alternate, simple, short-stalked to sessile, lance-linear to narrowly ovate, 1 to 6 inches long, .25 to 1.25 inches wide, thick, firm, glabrous or pubescent; margins entire to toothed, fringed with minute hairs; basal leaves absent at flowering; stem leaves about equal in size, scarcely reduced upward.
Inflorescences: Narrow, somewhat elongate, cylindric; usually leafy-bracted; lower branches not downward curving; heads borne on both sides of branches, to 1/3 inch tall; bracts pointed, lightly pubescent to glandular-hairy or sometimes glabrous.
Flowers: Ray florets 5-11, yellow; disk florets 10-16, yellow.
Fruits: Achenes, glabrous, tipped with numerous white bristles, enclosing small seed.
Habitat: Open rocky woodlands and escarpments, on sandy or limestone sites.
Distribution: East 3/4 of Kansas.
Comments: Downy goldenrod often grows in dense bunches.

Downy goldenrod inflorescence
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Downy goldenrod heads
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Downy goldenrod
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Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Chase County, Kansas
Downy goldenrod florets
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Downy goldenrod inflorescence
108 KB
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Chase County, Kansas
Downy goldenrod in late winter
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Downy goldenrod
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Riley County, Kansas
Downy goldenrod
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Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Chase County, Kansas
Downy goldenrod leaves
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Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Chase County, Kansas