CANADA GOLDENROD (Tall Goldenrod) 



Solidago altissima L. 



Late Summer A very important part of the seasonal atmosphere 



Ditches, low places would be lost if there were no goldenrods in bloom 



from late July until October ... if there were 

 none of those golden plumes bending as one in the summer wind ... if 

 there were no great flower-gardens of goldenrod along the swamps and 

 in ditches and on hills. It would be as empty a season without goldenrod 

 as springtime would ])e empty without violets. Each is indicative of the 

 time of year and of the mood of the season, as inexorable and as irre- 

 placeable as the going and coming of the migrant birds, or the passage 

 of Time itself across the calendar. 



Goldenrod in Illinois numbers dozens of species. Many are difficult 

 to identify because their characteristics are so similar. But certain species 

 stand out regally as individuals and may be identified as species, not just 

 grouped in the great family of goldenrods. 



One of these is the Canada goldenrod, \\ith its long wands of stems 

 topped with a broad mass of flowers. The leaves are sessile, gi-ey-green, 

 slightly toothed, abundant up the length of the stem. This tall goldenrod 

 grows in moist places near swamps and in prairie roadside ditches. 



The flowers of goldenrod unite in a tremendous working colony of 

 blossoms, each of which is complete in itself. The center of each tiny 

 yellow flower contains the tube flowers which produce the fluif-tipped 

 seeds. Around the tubular blossoms are the thin yellow rays. The golden- 

 rod flower-head contains hundreds of miniature sunflowers. 



This goldenrod is the type plant of the family — the goldenrod which 

 comes to mind when late summer is mentioned, when ''all over upland 

 and lowland, the chami of the goldenrod'' oi)ens the doonvay to autumn. 



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