High Plains Goldenrod

Plants 30–100 cm; caudices woody, rhizomes elongate, branching, woody, forming new centers of growth. Stems 1–20, erect, finely scabroso-puberulent, sparsely so with age proximally, densely so distally. Leaves: basal and proximal cauline withering by flowering, subsessile, gradually tapering to short-winged petiole-like bases; mid and distal cauline sessile, blades linear-elliptic to linear-lanceolate, 40–90 × 4–5 mm, 3-nerved from base, midnerves prominent, margins entire, finely scabrous, apices attenuate-acute, faces finely, sparsely to moderately strigose, more so on main nerves, finer nerves translucent, faces sometimes shiny. Heads 25–350 , in short to elongate, secund pani-culiform arrays, branches ascending or ascending and distally recurved, sometimes second, sometimes elongate. Peduncles 2–6 mm, finely strigose; bracteoles 1–10, often crowded, linear-lanceolate, 2–3 mm, grading into phyllaries. Involucres narrowly campanulate, 3.5–4 mm. Phyllaries in 3–4 series, linear-lanceolate, strongly unequal, margins hyaline, distally subulate-ciliate, apices acute, glabrous. Ray florets 4–5; laminae 1.5–2.5 × 0.5 mm. Disc florets 6–8, 3–3.5 mm, lobes 0.5 mm. Cypselae (narrowly obconic) 1.5–2.5 mm, sparsely strigillose; pappi 3 mm. 2n = 18.

Solidago altiplanities, the high plains goldenrod, is a plant species native to the high-altitude plains of Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle, often found on ridges and escarpments.

Solidago altiplanities is an herb up to 1 m (39 inches) tall, spreading by underground rhizomes. One plant can produce as many as 350 small yellow flower heads in a broad, conical array.