''Solidago spectabilis'' is a species of goldenrod known by the common names Nevada goldenrod, basin goldenrod, and showy goldenrod. It is native to the western United States in the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

and surrounding areas. It is found in California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah. There are historical records saying it once grew in southwestern Idaho, but is now extirpated there. This variety has also been seen in the western Montana county of Sanders. ''Solidago spectabilis'' grows in moist habitat, including

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s, meadows, seeps, streambanks, hot springs, and wet areas on

alkali flats A dry lake bed, also known as a playa, is a basin or depression that formerly contained a standing surface water body, which disappears when evaporation processes exceeds recharge. If the floor of a dry lake is covered by deposits of alkaline c ...

. It is a rhizomatous

perennial herb A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widel ...

producing one or more erect stems that can reach two meters (5 feet) in maximum height. It is mostly hairless but can have occasional patches of rough hairs. There is a basal rosette of fleshy, lance-shaped leaves measuring up to 25 centimeters (10 inches), the blades borne on winged petioles. The edges may be wavy or slightly toothed. Leaves farther up the stem are smaller and usually smooth-edged. The inflorescence is a large erect or arching array of many

flower heads A pseudanthium (Greek for "false flower"; ) is an inflorescence that resembles a flower. The word is sometimes used for other structures that are neither a true flower nor a true inflorescence. Examples of pseudanthia include flower heads, compos ...

, with some containing up to 100 heads. Each flower head contains 8-22 yellow disc florets surrounded 5-15 narrow yellow ray florets each no more than 4 millimeters long.flora of North America, Solidago spectabilis (D. C. Eaton) A. Gray, 1882. Basin or Nevada goldenrod
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References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentCalphotos Photo gallery, University of California
* spectabilis Plants described in 1871 Flora of the Western United States Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Solidago-stub