''Euthamia graminifolia'', the grass-leaved goldenrod or flat-top goldentop, is a North American species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

s in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

. It is native to much of Canada (from Newfoundland to

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

), and the northern and eastern United States (primarily the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

, the

Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canadian–American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin along with the Canadian p ...

, and the

Ohio Valley The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

, with additional populations in the

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

, the Great Plains, and a few scattered locations in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

). There are also introduced populations in Europe and Asia.Altervista Flora Italiana, Verga d'oro con foglie da gramigna, ''Euthamia graminifolia'' (L.) Nutt.
/ref>

Description

''Euthamia graminifolia'' is a

herbaceous plant Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent wood, woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennial plant, perennials, and nearly all Annual plant, annuals and Biennial plant, biennials. Definition ...

on thin, branching stems. Leaves are alternate, simple, long and narrow much like grass leaves (hence the name of the species). One plant can produce many small, yellow flower heads flat-topped arrays sometimes as much as 30 cm (1 foot) across. Each head has 7–35

ray florets The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

surrounding 3–13

disc floret The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

s. The species is very common in fallow fields, waste places,

fencerow In agriculture, fences are used to keep animals in or out of an area. They can be made from a wide variety of materials, depending on terrain, location and animals to be confined. Most agricultural fencing averages about high, and in some places ...

s, and vacant lots in many places.

References

External links

United States Department of Agriculture Plants Profile for ''Euthamia graminifolia'' (flat-top goldentop)Photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in North Carolina in 1897, isotype of ''Euthamia fastigiata'', syn of ''Euthamia graminifolia''
* graminifolia Flora of North America Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Astereae-stub