Goldenrod

Giant Goldenrod (Solidago gigantea )

The Goldenrod (Solidago ) or gold diamonds called, are a genus of flowering plants from the sunflower family ( Asteraceae). The genus now includes about 100 species.

Description

Solidago species are perennial, herbaceous plants, the plant height from 5 to 100 (rarely to 200) reach centimeters. Many species form rhizomes as outlasting. The stems are usually erect, rarely decumbent. Sometimes they are branched. The stems are usually smooth or sometimes hairy (eg Solidago canadensis). The alternate, stalked or sessile leaves are simple and smooth or hairy. The leaf margins are often cut.

In very differently constructed, often branched inflorescences usually have many (two to 1500) small basket- shaped part of inflorescence; very rarely the flower heads are individually. The flower heads are bell-shaped to cylindrical and have diameter of 1.7 to 10 mm. The bottom basket is surrounded by ten to 35 bracts in three to five rows. The flower heads are on the verge usually two to 15 (rarely they are missing or there are up to 24) and ray florets in the center usually two to 35 (rarely up to 60 ) tubular flowers. The ray florets, also called ray florets are zygomorphic, female, fertile, mostly ungehaart and usually yellow or rarely white. The radiärsymmetrische tubular flowers, also called disc florets are yellow, hermaphrodite, fertile and pentadentate.

The achenes usually have eight to ten ribs. The pappus consists of 25 to 45 bristles in two rows; sometimes the bristles are in addition of 0.25 to 0.5 mm long shed surrounded.

Dissemination

Solidago species are mainly native to North America. Few species have their home in South America ( four ) and some in Eurasia (six to ten).

They occur mainly in meadows and pastures and along roads and streams. Some species were introduced about 250 years ago in Europe ( neophytes ).

In Central Europe, only the Common Goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea L.) is indigenous. Naturalized Spread the Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis L.) and giant goldenrod are (Solidago gigantea Ait. Serotina var ( Kuntze ) Cronquist ).

Ecology

The propagation takes place either via seeds that are spread by the wind, or by rhizomes. The differentiation of many species is difficult.

Wrongly are Goldenrod suspected of causing hay fever, presumably because of their bright, golden-yellow flowers in summer. The pollen of goldenrod are too heavy and sticky, as they can fly far from the flower. Goldenrod are mainly fertilized by insects.

Different butterfly larvae use goldenrod as a forage crop.

System

Synonyms for Solidago L. are: Actipsis Rafinesque, Aster L. subg. Solidago (L.) Kuntze, Leioligo Rafinesque, Oligoneuron Small.

The genus Solidago include about 100 species:

• Solidago albopilosa E.L.Braun
• Solidago altiplanities C. & J.Taylor
• Solidago arguta Ait.
• Solidago auriculata Shuttlw. ex Blake
• Solidago × beaudryi Boivin
• Solidago bicolor L.
• Solidago boothii Hook.
• Solidago brachyphylla Chapman
• Solidago buckleyi Torr. & Gray
• Solidago L. caesia
• Solidago calcicola remote.
• Solidago californica Nutt.
• Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis L.), from Canada, in Central Europe as a neophyte.
• Solidago cutleri remote.
• Solidago deamii remote.
• Solidago discoidea Ell.
• Solidago × erskinei Boivin
• Solidago fistulosa P.Mill.
• Solidago flaccidifolia Small
• Solidago L. flexicaulis
• Solidago gattingeri Chapman
• Late Goldenrod (Solidago gigantea Ait. ) Giant Goldenrod (Solidago gigantea var serotina ( Kuntze ) Cronquist ), from North America, Central Europe as a neophyte.

No longer belongs to the genus:

• Chrysoma pauciflosculosa ( Michaux ) Greene ( syn. Solidago pauciflosculosa Michaux )

• Euthamia caroliniana (L.) Greene ex Porter & Britton ( Syn: Erigeron carolinianus L., Euthamia galetorum Greene, E. media Greene, E. microcephala Greene, E. microphylla Greene, E. remota Greene, E. tenuifolia ( Pursh ) Nuttall, Solidago lanceolata L. var minor Michaux, S. moseleyi Fernald, p. tenuifolia Pursh, S. tenuifolia var pycnocephala Fernald )
• Grass-leaved goldenrod ( Euthamia graminifolia (L.) Nuttall, Syn: chrysocoma graminifolia L., Euthamia fastigiata Bush, E. floribunda Greene, E. graminifolia var major ( Michaux ) Moldenke; E. graminifolia var nuttallii (Greene) Sieren, E. hirtipes ( Fernald ) Sieren, Solidago camporum var tricostata Lunell, p graminifolia (L.) Salisbury, S. hirtipes Fernald, p. lanceolata L.), neophyte from North America, which reaches a height of 50 to 80 centimeters.
• Euthamia gymnospermoides Greene
• Euthamia leptocephala ( Torrey & A. Gray ) Greene ex Porter & Britton
• Euthamia occidentalis Nuttall

• Petra Doria pumila ( Nuttall ) Greene

Terms and Others

In naturopathy, the drug of the flowering plant of the ordinary Goldenrod is (Solidago virgaurea ) kidney disease, disorders of the urinary secretion, wound healing, rheumatism and gout because of the diuretic, spasmolytic ( antispasmodic ) and anti-inflammatory ( anti-inflammatory ) effect of their ingredients ( saponin, tannin, essential oils) estimated. From the stalks and leaves a dye can be obtained; depending on the concentration and mordant, golden brown to red colorations.

In England Goldenrod be used as garden plants, since the 1980s in the United States. In Germany and Switzerland, they are more unloved than neophytes because they threaten to displace native plant species.

The goldenrod is the " national flower " of the U.S. states of Nebraska ( since 4 April 1895) and Kentucky ( March 16, 1926).

In the tradition of Christianity gelbblütige Goldenrod applies because of their medical importance, as " Laurenzilorbeer " in memory of the Saint Lawrence of Rome.

Pictures

Flower basket with flowers in the inflorescence of Solidago virgaurea subsp. minuta.

Achenes with pappus of Solidago sempervirens.

Saxony, scree, August 19: Wasp on Goldenrod

Swell

• John C. Semple, Rachel E. Cook: Solidago. In Flora of North America Editorial Committee ( eds.): Flora of North America North of Mexico. Volume 20: Magnoliophyta: unranked, part 7: Asteraceae, part 2 ( Astereae, Senecioneae ), Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford et al 2006, ISBN 0-19-530564-7, p 107, online. (English )