Lance-leaf goldenrod

Solidago ambigua Aiton var. lancifolia Torrey & A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 2: 200. 1842; Aster lancifolius (Torrey & A. Gray) Kuntze

Plants 60–160 cm; caudices woody. Stems 1–5+ , erect, straight, moderately hairy in arrays. Leaves: basal withering by flowering; proximal cauline subpetiolate or sessile, tapering to broadly winged petiole-like bases, blades lanceolate, 110–180 × 2–35 mm, margins serrate (with 7–15 teeth), apices acuminate, abaxial faces sparsely hairy along nerves, adaxial glabrous or sparsely hairy; distal cauline sessile, blades narrowly elliptic, 60–110 × 11–15 mm, margins entire to slightly serrate (teeth 0–6), apices acuminate-cuspidate, faces glabrous or sparsely hairy. Heads 80–400 (usually 4–10 per branch) in short axillary and terminal racemiform/paniculiform arrays 11–43 cm. Peduncles 1–5 mm, moderately strigose; bracteoles linear, 0–2. Involucres campanulate 6.4–8.5(–9) mm. Phyllaries in 3–4 series, unequal, 3–10-nerved, acute to obtuse; outermost linear-lanceolate to narrowly ovate, 1.7–2.4 mm, innermost linear-oblong, 4–6 mm. Ray florets 5–8; laminae 2.3–4.5 × 1–1.5 mm. Disc florets (5–)6.2–8.1(–12); corollas (2.8–)3–3.3(–3.9) mm, lobes (1.3–)1.5–1.8(–2.1) mm. Cypselae (narrowly obconic) 1–1.7(–2) mm, moderately to densely strigillose; pappi (3.4–)4–5 mm. 2n = 90.

Flowering late Aug–Sep. Woods, shaded to full sun along road embankments , at higher elevations; 1100–1500+ m; N.C., Tenn.

A few atypical plants of Solidago lancifolia with multinerved phyllaries grow along the border of Virginia and West Virginia.