Solidago salicina

Southern Rough-leaved Goldenrod

Solidago salicina Ell. was treated as S. patula ssp. strictula (Torr. & A. Gray) Semple in Flora North America (Semple & Cook 2006 FNA); the name S. salicina was not listed as a synonym. Like S. patula, S. salicina has finely scabrous leaves and striate-ridged stems, but the upper stem leaves a more numerous and smaller.  Based on a multivariate morphometric analysis, Semple et al. (2012) concluded that the southeastern U.S. member of the S. patula complex was sufficiently distinct that it should be treated as a separate species. The species was placed in S. subsect. Patulae Semple & J.B. Beck in S. sect. Argutae by Semple and Beck (2021) based on unpublished DNA sequence data.  The two species were included in a multivariate analysis of S. sect. Argutae by Semple et al. (2021).  This species is known to be diploid 2n=18 in North Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi. Semple and Morton (2024) presented a map of the cytogeography of S. salicina.