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Solidago
virgaurea L.
Standardized Common
Name: European
Goldenrod
Other Common Names: Goldenrod, Solidago,
Virgaurea, Woundwort
Family: Asteraceae
(Compositae)
Taxonomy: Solidago
includes about 80 species, most of which are North American. There is only one
native European species, S. virgaurea. Several similar North American
species were formerly placed within S. virgaurea, which in recent
treatments is restricted to plants of European origin.
Description: Perennial herb; stem
to 1 m high, the vegetative portion unbranched. Leaves in a basal rosette and
cauline; basal leaves petiolate, oblanceolate to obovate, 2–10(–14) cm long;
cauline leaves alternate, decreasing in size above, narrowly lanceolate to
elliptical, with tapering, short-petioled or clasping base; apex acute, margins
usually serrate; lower surface usually pubescent. Inflorescence a thyrse of
heads or a panicle of heads with ascending racemose branches. Heads pedunculate,
with 6–12 ray florets and 10–30 disk florets; florets yellow. Involucre 4.5–8
mm long, cylindrical to campanulate, of multiple rows of overlapping bracts
(phyllaries); phyllaries lanceolate, acute. Ray florets female, ligulate, 4–9
mm long; ligule narrowly oblanceolate, upper portion spreading, with (2–)3–5
minute apical lobes. Disk florets hermaphroditic, tubular, almost as long as
ray florets; tube narrow, widening slightly above; lobes 5, short, spreading;
anthers and style protrude above mouth of corolla tube. Fruit an achene, 3–4 mm
long, pubescent, with numerous veins; pappus a ring of bristles, (3–)4–5 mm
long.
Parts
in Commerce:
Whole herb with flowers
Identification:
Stems
- To 0.5 cm in
diameter
- Reddish and
glossy or yellowish, white inside
- With numerous
shallow longitudinal ridges
- Glabrous or
bearing short hairs
Leaves
- Basal leaves
broadly elliptical to obovate, oblanceolate or spatulate, to 10 cm long,
long-petioled
- Cauline leaves
usually 1.5–6 cm long and narrowly elliptical or lanceolate, the lowermost
sometimes broadly lanceolate and up to 10(–15) cm long, progressively
reduced in size on the upper stem
- Bases of upper
leaves tapering to form a short petiole, or somewhat clasping in the
smaller leaves
- Apices acute
- Margins entire
or weakly serrate, sometimes only the larger leaves serrate, bearing tiny
hairs or projections
- Upper surface
dark green and smooth; lower surface weakly pubescent with short stiff
hairs, giving a rough texture, or glabrous
- Venation
inconspicuous except for midrib, pinnate, reticulated; several curving
secondary veins originate from midrib
- Odor slightly
aromatic
- Taste astringent
Flowering heads
- Heads borne on
all sides of the flowering stem, not confined to the upper side
- Heads on
individual peduncles at least 3 mm long, not sessile
- Rachis and
peduncles often pubescent
- Heads 6–10 mm in
diameter
- Involucre
cylindrical to broadly campanulate, pale green, 4.5–8 mm long, of up to 5
rows of bracts (phyllaries), the innermost longest
- Most phyllaries
3–6 mm long, narrow, acute, with greenish midrib and paler dry margins,
sometimes weakly pubescent, often ciliate
- Ray florets
6–12, 4–9 mm long, yellow; ligule narrow, spreading, widest at top,
usually with (2–)3–5 minute, inconspicuous apical lobes
- Disk florets
10–30, tubular, yellow, hermaphroditic, to 8 mm long; corolla narrowly
tubular, widening above, with 5 short lobes, the lobes usually spreading
at maturity; anthers mostly yellow, protruding above corolla; ovary often
short-pubescent
- Pappus on both
ray and disk florets a ring of bristles, (3–)4–5 mm long, the bristles
bearing minute single-celled hairs
Among
the other species of goldenrod used medicinally, the most common are S.
canadensis L. (Canadian Goldenrod, which hybridizes readily with S.
virgaurea) and S. gigantea Aiton (Early Goldenrod, for which S.
serotina Aiton is a synonym). Both of these North American species are
naturalized in Europe and could be accidentally substituted for S. virgaurea.
These species share a number of distinguishing features:
- Leaves cauline
only, largest at mid-stem, often deciduous from lower stem; all leaves
generally >4 cm long, mid-stem leaves may be up to 15 cm long
- Leaves with
three main veins; two veins originate from basal part of midrib and run
parallel to it for most of length of leaf; primary veins often prominent
on underside of leaf
- Leaf margins
shallowly but sharply serrate for most of length on all leaves
- Leaf pubescence
mainly along veins beneath (sometimes glabrate or pubescent throughout
lower surface)
- Inflorescence a
panicle with spreading branches, all heads borne toward one side of the
branch
- Heads smaller
than those of S. virgaurea, with smaller involucres, florets and
pappus and with <12 disk florets per head
- Tiny apical
lobes of ray florets commonly only 2
- Lobes of disk
corollas smaller, usually remaining more or less erect rather than
spreading at maturity
- Pappus bristles
<2.5 mm long
- Odor slightly
more aromatic and taste less bitter
Characters that separate these two species include
the following:
|
S.
canadensis
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S.
gigantea
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Stem pubescent
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Upper part of vegetative stem hairy
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Vegetative part of stem glabrous; flowering part
usually hairy
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Involucre
|
2–3 mm high
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2.5–5 mm high
|
Ray florets
|
2.0–2.5(–3.0) mm long, narrow, usually not much
longer than phyllaries and disk florets
|
3.5–4(–6) mm long
|
Disk florets
|
2–7 per head, 2.3–2.8 mm long
|
6–12 per head, 3.2–3.5 mm long
|
References:
British Herbal Medicine
Association. British Herbal Pharmacopoeia. BHMA; 1996:90–91.
Fernald ML. Gray’s Manual of Botany, 8th ed. New York: American Book
Company; 1950:1381–1413.
McNeill J. Solidago. In: Tutin TG, Heywood VH, Burges NA, et al.,
eds. Flora Europaea. Vol. 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press;
1976:110–111.
Morton GH. A practical treatment of the Solidago
gigantea complex. Canad J Bot. 1984;62:1279–1282.
Semple JC, Ringius GS, revised by Semple JC. The
goldenrods of Ontario: Solidago L. and Euthamia Nutt. Revised
edition. Univ Waterloo Biol Ser. 1992;36:1–82.
Wichtl M, ed. Herbal Drugs and
Phytopharmaceuticals, 3rd English
ed. Stuttgart: medpharm Scientific Publishers and Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press;
2004:578–586.
Figure 70: a–b, Solidago virgaurea habit and head; c, S. gigantea
head.
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