COMPOSITE FAMILY 



COMPOSITE COMPOSITE FAMILY 



Solidago odora, Ait. 



Yellow Sweet Goldenrod, 



Anise-scented Goldenrod, 

 August-September Blue Mountain-lea. 



Solidago: for derivation see altissima. 

 Odora: Latin for sweet scented. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry soil, open growths of low 

 shrubbery. 



THE PLANT: erect, two to four feet high; the stem simple, 

 slender, without hairs or with a few short, soft hairs above. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; lanceolate; two inches to four 

 inches long; hairless on both surfaces; acute at the apex 

 or tapering to a point; narrowed at the base; stemless or 

 very short petioled; entire; anise-scented when crushed; 

 dotted with glands. 



THE FLOWER HEADS: very small, growing on one side of 

 the spreading racemes of the panicles which are at the end 

 of the stem; bracts of the involucre oblong-lanceolate, 

 acute. 



THE FRUIT: achenes; the pappus of bristles. 



This is the most delicately formed and the most graceful 

 of all the Nantucket Goldenrods. The leaves, when 

 crushed, usually have a more decided anise odour than the 

 other Goldenrods, but this is not an infallible means of 

 distinction, for other Goldenrod leaves also have a pungent 

 odour when crushed, and occasionally a plant of odora is 

 scentless. But by the general slenderness and more 

 especially by the smoothness of the stem and of the narrow 

 leaves shall you recognize the odora. 



From the pollen is made a drug, valuable in the treat- 

 ment of hay-fever. 



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