Goldenrod (Solidago spp), in brilliant yellow plumage, shouts out every fall from woods, prairies, roadsides and meadows across North America.
Often blamed for allergies, goldenrod is not the culprit. Upper respiratory allergies are usually caused by wind-blown pollen. The pollen of goldenrod is far too heavy to be windblown. In fact, goldenrod must rely on insects to pollinate. Instead of goldenrod, the allergy-giving evildoer is usually ragweed, which blooms around the same time as goldenrod and grows in the same habitats.
Goldenrod Habitat
Goldenrod can grow in just about any soil. Dry woodlands, rocky foothills, seaside dunes, even areas where top soil has been removed provide footing for the hardy goldenrod. It can grow in wet swampy areas and flourishes in drought-prone situations.
How Goldenrod Reproduces
A strong root system with deep, cylindrical roots not only anchors the plant, but also provides support for rhizomes. Rhizomes are the plant’s major means of reproduction, cloning itself many times over. Patches of goldenrod are usually the result of one plant. While goldenrod generally reproduces vegetatively this way, it can reproduce through seeds as well. Although goldenrod pollen is too heavy and sticky to be carried very far by wind, goldenrod seeds are lightweight and are windborne.
Goldenrod a Host Plant
The larvae of a large number of Lepidoptera species use goldenrod as a food source. Two of the principle genuses are Buccalatrocidae and Coleophora, although a number of others are equally as prevalent.
Many of the Lepidoptera larvae participate in a complex cycle of life. A female moth will lay her eggs in the stem of a plant. Once hatched, the larva exudes a chemical which causes the plant to form a bulbous swelling, or gall. Parasitic wasps in turn find the galls and lay their eggs inside the gall. The wasp larvae feed on the Lepidoptera larvae. Finally, woodpeckers have discovered that delicacies exist within the galls of goldenrod and have learned to “pick out” the larvae, both of the wasp and the moth/butterfly.
Bees and Other Insects on Goldenrod
Bees and other insects, such as wasps and flies, find both the pollen and the nectar of goldenrod attractive. Honey made from goldenrod pollen and nectar is considered exceptional.
Spiders and other predators, like parasitic wasps, make goldenrod their home. The goldenrod crap spider (Misumana vatia) lives on goldenrod flowers its whole life. Highly camouflaged, it consumes large numbers of insects.
State Flower
Goldenrod is the state flower of Kentucky and Nebraska, and is the state wildflower of South Carolina.
Thomas Edison used sap from the plant to experiment with making rubber. Although successful in producing a high quality rubber, the invention of synthetic rubber-making processes around World War II made the applications obsolete.
Other sites that may be of interest include:
1929 Time Article on Edison and Goldenrod
Goldenrod: University of Maryland
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