SCIENTIFIC NAME: Solidago juncea
COMMON NAMES: Early Goldenrod, Goldenrod, Plume Goldenrod, Yellowtop
BLOOM TIME: July, Aug, Sept
PLANT PROFILE:
- Habitat: Dry rock soils of roadsides, open woods, slopes, & prairies.
- Grows 2-4 ft. tall on stiff stems with narrow leaves.
- Tiny ¼ in. flowers grow in a dense, arching, plume-like panicles.
- Each flower plumes contain about 450 golden flowers.
- Earliest of the goldenrods to bloom.
- Goldenrods wrongly accused of causing hay fever which is caused by wind pollinated plants, golden rod pollinated by by insects.
- Native Americans used to treat fever, nausea, & diarrhea.
INSECT/ANIMAL INTERACTIONS:
- Like other goldenrods, attracts many insects to the flowers, including long-tongued & short-tongued bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, moths, & beetles.
- Larvae of many moths feed on the foliage and other parts of this goldenrod.
- Adults of the Goldenrod Stowaway Moth like to hide in the flowers.
- The Greater Prairie Chicken may feed on the foliage.
- Eastern Goldfinch, Tree Sparrow, & Swamp Sparrow eat the seeds to a limited extent.
- Mammalian herbivores may feed on the foliage if little else is available, including the White-Tailed Deer, Groundhog, Cottontail Rabbit, and livestock.