''Solidago sphacelata'', commonly known as false goldenrod or autumn goldenrod,
[ is a North American species of goldenrod in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the eastern United States from Virginia and the ]Carolinas
The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina, considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east.
Combining Nort ...
west as far as Illinois and Mississippi.Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
/ref>
''Solidago sphacelata'' is a drought-tolerant,caudex
A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695
In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is m ...
and rhizomes
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...
. One plant can produce as many as 250 small yellow flower heads in a large branching array at the top of the plant.[Flora of North America, ''Solidago sphacelata'' Rafinesque, 1820. False or autumn goldenrod ]
/ref> The bright yellow color of the flowers primarily attracts butterfly pollinators.
References
sphacelata
Plants described in 1820
Flora of the Eastern United States
Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque
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