Goldenrod - The Flower, Not A Weed

[mr.d]

Goldenrod

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For other uses, see Goldenrod (disambiguation).

Goldenrod
Solidago Solidago virgaurea var. leiocarpa Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Eudicots (unranked): Asterids Order: Asterales Family: Asteraceae Subfamily: Asteroideae Tribe: Astereae Genus: Solidago
L. 1753 not Mill. 1754 Synonyms^[1]

• Actipsis Rafinesque
• Aster Linnaeus subg. Solidago (Linnaeus) Kuntze
• Leioligo Rafinesque

Solidago, commonly called goldenrods, is a genus of about 100^[1] to 120^[2] species of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae. Most are herbaceous perennial species found in open areas such as meadows, prairies, and savannas. They are mostly native to North America, including Mexico; a few species are native to South America and Eurasia.^[1] Some American species have also been introduced into Europe and other parts of the world.

Description[edit]

 

European goldenrod is pollinated by Bombus cryptarum

Solidago species are perennials growing from woody caudices or rhizomes. Their stems ranges from decumbent (crawling) to ascending or erect, with a range of heights going from 5 cm to over a meter. Most species are unbranched, but some do display branching in the upper part of the plant. Both leaves and stems vary from glabrous (hairless) to various forms of pubescence (strigose, strigillose, hispid, stipitate-glandular or villous). In some species, the basal leaves are shed before flowering. The leaf margins are most commonly entire, but often display heavier serration. Some leaves may display trinerved venation rather than the pinnate venation usual across Asteraceae.^[1]

The flower heads are usually of the radiate type (typical daisy flower heads with distinct ray and disc florets) but sometimes discoid (with only disc florets of mixed, sterile, male and bisexual types). Only ray florets are female, others are male, hermaphroditic or entire sterile. Head involucres are campanulate to cylindric or attenuate. Floret corollas are usually yellow, but white in the ray florets of a few species (such as Solidago bicolor); they are typically hairless. Heads usually include between 2 and 35 disc florets, but in some species this may go up to 60. Filaments are inserted closer to the base of the corolla than its middle. Numerous heads are usually grouped in complex compound inflorescences where heads are arranged in multiple racemes, panicles, corymbs, or secund arrays (with florets all on the same side).^[1]

Solidago cypselae are narrowly obconic to cylindrical in shape, and they are sometimes somewhat compressed. They have eight to 10 ribs usually and are hairless or moderately hispid. The Pappus is very big with barbellate bristles.^[1]

 

Goldenrod and visiting Cerceris wasp

The many goldenrod species can be difficult to distinguish, due to their similar bright, golden-yellow flower heads that bloom in late summer. Propagation is by wind-disseminated seeds or by spreading underground rhizomes which can form colonies of vegetative clones of a single plant. They are mostly short-day plants and bloom in late summer and early fall. Some species produce abundant nectar when moisture is plentiful, or when the weather is warm and sunny.

Use and cultivation[edit]

Young goldenrod leaves are edible.^[3] Native Americans used the seeds of some species for food.^[4]Herbal teas are sometimes made with goldenrod.^[5]

 

Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) essential oil

Goldenrod is often unfairly blamed for causing hay fever in humans. The pollen causing these allergy problems is mainly produced by ragweed (Ambrosia sp.), blooming at the same time as the goldenrod but wind-pollinated. Goldenrod pollen is too heavy and sticky to be blown far from the flowers, and is thus mainly pollinated by insects.^[6] Frequent handling of goldenrod and other flowers, however, can cause allergic reactions, sometimes irritating enough to force florists to change occupation.^[7] Goldenrods are attractive sources of nectar for bees, flies, wasps, and butterflies. Honey from goldenrods often is dark and strong due to admixtures of other nectars. However, when honey flow is strong, a light (often water clear), spicy-tasting monofloral honey is produced. While the bees are ripening the honey produced from goldenrods, it has a rank odor and taste, but finished honey is much milder.

Goldenrods are, in some places, held as a sign of good luck or good fortune.^[8] They are considered weeds by many in North America, but they are prized as garden plants in Europe, where British gardeners adopted goldenrod long before Americans did as garden subjects. Goldenrod only began to gain some acceptance in American gardening (other than wildflower gardening) during the 1980s.

They have become invasive species in other parts of the world, including China; Solidago canadensis, which was introduced as a garden plant in Central Europe, has become common in the wild, and in Germany is considered an invasive species that displaces native vegetation from its natural habitat.

Goldenrod species are used as a food source by the larvae of many Lepidoptera species. The invading larva may induce the plant to form a bulbous tissue mass called a gall around it, upon which the larva then feeds. Various parasitoid wasps find these galls and lay eggs in the larvae, penetrating the bulb with their ovipositors. Woodpeckers are known to peck open the galls and eat the insects in the center.^[9]

Cultivated species[edit]

Cultivated goldenrods include S. bicolor, S. caesia, S. canadensis, S. cutleri, S. riddellii, S. rigida, S. shortii, and S. virgaurea.^[10]

A number of cultivars have been selected, including several of hybrid origin. A putative hybrid with aster, known as

[Petee]

Excellent information!!

 

Goldenrod is a Pennsylvania native perennial.  Unless you lay under the plant and shake it, the pollen isn't going to get near you.  Now, that said, very tall species of Goldenrod, some 5 feet tall, can reach you if you're out in a field.  The pollen is very heavy and sinks rapidly to the ground.

 

It's a very important nectar source for insects and it's truly beautiful if you haven't been trained to automatically hate it.  

 

If you have allergies in the same season that Goldenrod blooms, then check out Ragweed.  Now that's some thing to run from.  http://acaai.org/allergies/types/ragweed-allergy  In the link it will tell you what else is linked with the same allergy.

[Bon]

Interesting article

[mr.d]

FLOWER WINES     ----- (Golden Rod Wine)
Flowers contain no acid and very little tannin, their only contribution to a wine is in bouquet and flavour. The flowers should be gathered if possible on a warm sunny day, or certainly during the middle of a dry day when the florets are wide open. Only the petals or tiny flowers heads should be used; the green calixes impart a bitter flavour to the wine and should be discarded together with any stem, leaf or stalk.

In the absence of fresh flowers some winemakers have used dried flowers which are available from herbalists. As the essence of flowers becomes very concentrated when they are dried, it is only necessary to use a small packet of dried flowers to flavour a gallon of wine. The method is the same for all flower wines. Boiling water is poured on to the flower petals and the mashing vessel is carefully covered. Each day the flowers should be stirred so that they become thoroughly macerated and are not allowed to rise and become dry. After three days the liquid is strained on to some chopped sultanas or raisins and sugar, citric acid, nutrient and tannin. Fermenting yeast is added and the must is fermented in the usual way. A week later the wine is strained again and the raisins are pressed and fermentation is continued until completion. The wine is then racked, stored for three months, then racked again and three months later bottled. This wine is usually ready in about a year after making.

The basic ingredients are as follows. The quantities of flowers to use are given subsequently:

8 oz. chopped raisins or sultanas

3 Ib. sugar

1/2 teaspoonful grape tannin or 1/2 cup cold strong tea

1 gallon water

Rind and juice of 2 lemons and an orange or alternatively 3 oz, citric acid

Nutrient

General-purpose yeast

The flowers are:

Agrimony, 1 medium sized bunch

Broom, 2 quarts of broom flowers

Carnation, 2 quarts of 'white' pinks

Clover, 2 quarts of purpIe claver heads

Coltsfoot, 2 quarts coltsfoot flowers (similar to dandelions)

Cowslip, 2 quarts flowers

Dandelion, 2 quarts dandelion heads

Elderflower, 1 pint elderflower florets, pressed down

Geranium Leaf, 2 quarts of leaves (PeIargonium quercifolium variety only)

 >>>>> Golden Rod, 2 handfuls of blossoms <<<<<<

Hawthorn Blossom, 2 quarts of fresh hawthorn flowers (sometimes called May Blossom)

Marigold, 2 quarts of marigold heads

Primrose, 2 quarts fresh primroses

Oak Leaf, 2 quarts oak leaves, gathered as soon as the oak leaf is fully developed. (N.B. Omit tannin or cold strong tea)

Rose petal, 2 quarts dark red rose petals

Walnut Leaf, 1 large handful of walnut leaves. (N.B. Omit tannin or cold strong tra)

The author has tasted nearly all of these wines and made many of them. The best two are undoubtedly elderflower and rose-petal and both of these wines are well worth making. Hawthorn blossom has a magnificent bouquet comparable with rose-petal and elderflower and is a delicious wine if you can but gather the blossom. The geranium leaf has a most distinctive bouquet and flavour, which is extremely pleasant, although this little-leafed pelargonium is by no means common. Cowslip, coltsfoot and dandelion wines take longer to mature and are quite pleasant although not as good as those already mentioned. The remainder make drinkable wine although not distinguished, nor indeed worth repeating.

It would be unwise to go beyond this range of flowers, which have all been safely tested over many years. Flowers that spring from bulbs are generally poisonous and you should not make bluebell wine, tulip wine, daffodil wine and so on. This is also true of the privet flower.

Hi BT - the flower information that I have does not care much for Goldenrod flower wine? You must have had better success than this author. I have never made this wine but I guess that the honey bees really enjoy them and a goldenrod honey is sometimes used to make mead. Cheers all the best with your wine making. DAW                                              http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?1267-Goldenrod-Wine

[lavender]

I've made both dandelion wine and violet cordial. In both the flavor seems to come mostly from the added ingredients. The dandelion wine was very hard to clear. Maybe goldenrod wine would be more flavorful as the flower is more aromatic. Goldenrod also makes a tea that is excellent although the variety that is said to make the best tea is difficult to come by. I've never found it locally and I've hunted down and identified a half dozen varieties including a white one that is called silverrod.

Remember a weed is just any plant that is growing where you don't want it growing. Embrace it and it is no longer a weed. My yard is full of butterflies and bees this year. I've embraced a few weeds although the coneflowers, butterfly bush and bee balm are still the most popular plants. If you can get a butterfly to sit still long enough to identify it checking to see what is attracting it is always interesting.

[Gilb3314]

When i saw goldenrod for sale at the Hazen fleal market, I thought, while, I have a gold mine right in my back yard! It was an interesting article, but I still think it's a weed.

[lavender]

When i saw goldenrod for sale at the Hazen fleal market, I thought, while, I have a gold mine right in my back yard! It was an interesting article, but I still think it's a weed.

There are hybrids now that don't grow as tall. They are darned hard to grow. I've tried at least twice in two different locations and they have died twice. Buying goldenrod that won't grow seems strange. I think I had that 'Lemore' one although it sticks in my mind as lemon. I'm just letting the wild one grow in areas I have designated for wild flowers and pulling them out everywhere else. I found one in a new patch I started for leftover plants that is short and doesn't look too wild. Don't know where it came from. It might have been a root mixed in with something else. I'm keeping an eye on it.