GOLDEN ROD 



163 



Tall and slender, Golden Rod reaches a height of 2 ft. The 

 flowers are in bloom in July up to September. It is a deciduous, 

 herbaceous, perennial plant, propagated by division of the roots. 



The disk florets are 

 like those of Chrysocoma, 

 in which several capitula 

 combine to form one sur- 

 face, and so do not need 

 ligulate marginal florets. 

 Here they are placed on 

 an elongated axis. The 

 disk of each capitulum 

 is 4-5 mm., and 5-7 

 golden marginal florets 

 render it conspicuous, 

 making it broader, or 

 14-19 mm. 



The marginal florets 

 have an enormously de- 

 veloped corolla, while the 

 stamens are reduced or 

 absent. The branches of 

 the style have the sweep- 

 ing hairs also reduced as 

 useless, bearing stigmatic 

 papillae on the inner sur- 

 face along each margin 

 throughout. There are 

 female and complete 

 flowers on the same 

 plant. Pollen may drop 

 from the upper flowers 

 on those below. The 

 Golden Rod is polli- 

 nated by Apis mellifica, 

 Bombus rupestris, B. 



campestris, B. terrestris, Andrena, Eristalis arbustorum, E. nemorum^ 

 Thee la. 



The fruit is provided with pappus, and the achenes are downy 

 and many-ribbed, and adapted for wind dispersal. 



Golden Rod is a rock plant, which may be found growing on 



GOLDEN ROD (Solidago Virgaurea, L.) 



