CORNELL UNIVERSITY EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 311 



GOLDEN ROD WEEDS. 



Complaints having been made in certain quarters in regard to the tendency 

 of some of the golden rods to become more or less troublesome weeds, this 

 note upon the subject has been prepared. 



The golden rods constitute the genus Solidago of the botanist, one of 

 the largest and most important genera of the sunflower family. They are 

 all late summer or autumnal blooming plants, bearing clusters of small 

 flowers, usually of a yellow or golden color. The roots are perennial, but 

 the stems, for the most part slender or wand-like in form, are annual and 

 herbaceous, or somewhat woody in mature plants. 



About eighty species of golden rod are known. These vary in height 

 from six inches or less in the Alpine variety of Solidago virgaurea, to 

 eight feet or more in the large variety of Solidago seroUna. They also 

 differ more or less in the habit and general appearance of the plants, in the 

 form and size of the flower clusters, in the size and texture of the leaves, 

 and in other ways. 



Nearly all the golden rods are attractive plants, chiefly on account of 

 the rich, warm, golden color of the flowers. The high esteem in which 

 they are generally held has led to a widespread proposal that the golden 

 rod should be adopted as a national flower. Whether some particular 

 species should be chosen, or whether any one of the eighty species might 

 be regarded as answering all the requirements of the case, is a phase of 

 the subject which has thiis far received but little consideration. 



The golden rods are nearly all natives of eastern North America. Only 

 a single species, Solidago virgaurea, is native to Britain and continental 

 Europe. The number of species known to be native to the state of New 

 York was placed at twenty-two by Dr. Torrey in 1843. Prof. Dudley 

 admits in the Cayuga Flora sixteen species as growing wild in the basin 

 of Cayuga lake. These are all found in the vicinity of Cornell univer- 

 sity. Within one hundred miles of the city of New York twenty-five 

 species have been recorded by the Torrey Botanical club. In the state of 

 New Jersey there are twenty-four species, and in the state of California 

 only seven. In the whole of North America north of Mexico, Dr. Gray 

 includes seventy-eight species. These figures give a general notion of the 

 natural distribution of the golden rods and the relative frequency 

 of their occurrence in different sections. 



But little attention has been given to the cultivation of the golden rods 

 in this country, largely owing no doubt to their abundance as wild plants. 

 In the old world, on the other hand, where as stated only a single species 

 is known, a considerable number are cultivated for ornamental purposes. 

 In Nicholson's Dictionary of Gardening fifteen species are named as 

 cultivated plants in England; but it is stated that as "they are of a coarse 

 habit they are mostly confined to shrubberies and borders." In the 

 botanical garden of the University all the golden rods native in the 

 Cayuga Flora are cultivated by the botanical department for scientific 

 purposes; and it is of interest to note that nearly all show a marked 

 tendency to respond to the influence of cultivation in the direction o£ 

 amelioration and improvement. 



There is no tendency of the golden rods as a whole to become weeds, 

 but a few species are regarded as intrusive and troublesome in some sec- 

 tions. In Halsted's check list of American weeds ten species are included; 



