Flower Encyclopedia: Goldenrod Goldenrod is native to Europe, Asia, the Azores, and both North and South America. It is a very common wildflower and is also called Solidago canadensis or Solidago virgaurea.
Goldenrod plants can grow to a length between 60 cm and 1.5 m. They have simple, alternate, toothed or smooth-margined leaves. The flowers are brightly colored and attract color-sensitive insects. Its pollen grains are relatively large, heavier than air, because they are designed to be carried off by flies, bees, butterflies, even ants or birds, but not by the wind. Goldenrods are easily recognized by their golden inflorescence with hundreds of small capitula, but some are spike-like and other has auxiliary racemes. They have slender stems, usually hairless but S. canadensis shows hairs on the upper stem.
They are all perennials with large clusters of small yellow flowers that appear from the end of summer until frost. They are in full bloom from in September and October, and signal the end of summer. Propagation is by wind-disseminated seed or by underground rhizomes.
About every insect with an interest in flowers may by found on goldenrod in autumn. The predators of those insects will be found there also. Wheel bugs and flower crab spiders, in particular, like to lay in wait for prey on goldenrod clusters.
The yellow of goldenrod makes a pleasant scene with the varied bronzes, russets, oranges and purples of the fall prairie. In traditional medical practices, goldenrod is used to treat tuberculosis, diabetes, enlargement of the liver, gout, hemorrhoids, internal bleeding, asthma, and rheumatic illnesses (disorders of the muscles and joints). Goldenrod is primarily used as an aquaretic agent, meaning that it promotes the loss of water from the body.
Did you know?
· The scientific name comes from the Latin, which means "to make whole", and refers to the healing properties which have been attributed to it.
· There are about 125 varieties of Goldenrod.
· Goldenrod means "encouragement" or "precaution".
· Goldenrod gets mistakenly blamed for the agonies of hay fever sufferers in autumn.
· The goldenrod is the state flower of the U.S. states of Kentucky (adopted March 16, 1926) and Nebraska (adopted April 4, 1895).
· Goldenrods are, in some places, held as a sign of good luck or good fortune; but they are considered weeds by some.
