Plant Profile: The Non-Goldenrods

By Craig Huegel

Reprinted from The Understory, Nov.-Dec. 1995

Fall is the time for goldenrods. For those of you with ample patience and a flair for using plant keys, the numerous species can be identified. For the rest of us, they simply are a joy to behold, adding a layer of bright yellow to the fall wildflower palette. Nesteled among these, however, are two other species that are closely related, but are not goldenrods. Both of these common fall-blooming wildflowers can, in fact, be confused with each other also. At least until now.

Yellowtop (Flaveria linearis) This is a plant of coastal hammocks, dunes, pinelands, and disturbed habitats of central and south Florida. It is especially common in coastal areas in wet soils. Yellowtop is a bushy plant that often reaches about 2.5 feet in height. The leaves are opposite, narrow and linear, and may have entire margins or be slightly toothed. The flowers (that may be present year-round) are very small, but numerous in broad flat heads. For those of you who attended the September meeting [on asters], each flower head is composed of several is composed of several disk florets and one tiny ray floret. Therefore, the flower heads seem to be nearly without petals. Often confused with the species below, this false goldenrod actually has a much flatter blooming top.

Flat-topped goldenrod (Euthamia caroliniana—syn E. minor). This is another very common wildflower and is found in a wide variety of settings that include open meadows, pinelands, and disturbed sites. This wildflower is not a common resident of coastal areas or of wet soils. As I alluded above, it also is not as flat-topped as the plant above; it cuts a rather club-shaped appearance. Euthamia often reaches three feet in height. Its linear leaves are dotted with glands and are almost needle-like. The small flower heads differ from those of yellowtop. They are composed of 10 to 16 tiny ray flowers and 5–7 equally small disk flowers. Each of these flower heads, therefore, have visible petals. Flat-topped goldenrod suckers freely in open fields and often forms expansive stands. It occurs throughout Florida and much of the southeastern coastal plain.

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