Buckley's Goldenrod

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / parasite
Golovinomyces orontii parasitises live Solidago buckleyi

Solidago buckleyi is an uncommon species of mesic woods, most variable in the size and number of teeth on the large mid cauline leaves. Once seen, usually it is not easily confused with S. petiolaris. Reports from farther east are for plants of S. petiolaris.

Plants 60–120 cm; caudices thick, woody, roots thick. Stems 1–5+, sparsely to moderately short strigose or villous. Leaves: basal withering by flowering, petiolate, smaller to much smaller than cauline, blades oblanceolate, margins serrate; cauline sessile, blades elliptic-lanceolate or -oblanceolate, mid 80–140 × 2.5–4 mm, distally reduced, usually membranous, bases tapering, attenuate, margins sharply toothed along much of length to nearly entire, ciliate, abaxial faces short-pilose along small and large nerves, adaxial short-pilose along larger nerves. Heads 5–160 (2–10+ more per short branch cluster), in narrowly elongate paniculiform arrays, branches usually 1–6 cm (much longer in damaged plants, sometimes 1–3 proximal branches much elongated in undamaged plants), ascending and bearing short terminal racemiform or paniculiform clusters. Peduncles 1–6 mm, moderately canescent; bracteoles linear to lanceolate. Involucres campanulate, 4.5–5.5 mm. Phyllaries in ca. 3 series, strongly unequal, erect to slightly squarrose-tipped, lanceolate, apices acute, glabrate, sparsely to moderately, finely stipitate-glandular. Ray florets 6–8; laminae 3–4 × 1–1.5 mm wide. Disc florets 8–14; corollas 4–5 mm, lobes ca. 1.5 mm. Cypselae (reddish brown) 2–3 mm, glabrous; pappi 4–5 mm.

Aster buckleyi (Torrey & A. Gray) Kuntze

Solidago buckleyi, or Buckley's goldenrod, is a species of goldenrod native to central North America. It is an uncommon species with a small range, being found mainly in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas and Missouri, and in the uplands near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers near southern Illinois and western Kentucky. There are also a few isolated populations reported from Indiana. Its preferred habitat is open oak woodlands.

Solidago buckleyi is a perennial herb up to 120 cm (48 inches) tall with large woody taproots. Basal leaves wilt before flowering time; stem leaves become progressively smaller further up the stem. Heads number up to 160, in an elongate paniculate array. Ray flowers 6-8 per head, disc flowers 8–14.