National Geographic Magazine/Volume 31/Number 6/Our State Flowers/The Goldenrod

The Goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis Ait.)


By legislative action the State flower of Nebraska, in high favor, though not yet adopted, in Missouri and Alabama, and considered with the violet for the honor in New Jersey, the goldenrod disputes with the violet first place in State preferences.

Not only is the goldenrod a member of one of the most widely known and versatile flower families of the world, but its own household is made up of a large number of brothers and sisters. We are told that there are 85 species of goldenrod in the United States. A few of them have crossed the border into Mexico and some have even invaded South America, thus indicating that there is such a doctrine as “manifest destiny” in flower land as well as in international politics. Over in Europe there are people who like our goldenrod so well that they grow them in their gardens, as we ourselves would surely do were it not for their wonderful ability to shift for themselves.

All of these species are grouped as members of the genus Solidago, a name which comes to us from ancient Rome, where they thought the goldenrod a possessor of healing powers strong enough to entitle it to be called the “makes whole” plant. The species range from the stout goldenrod, otherwise Solidago squarrosa, which lives up to its name, and the showy goldenrod, which does likewise, to the sweet-scented goldenrod, from which a delightful drink may be brewed, and the slender goldenrod, otherwise Solidago tennifolia. There is one species which an Irishman must have named, for it is called the white goldenrod. It is just about as logical to speak of a white blackbird, and the botanists get around the inconsistency of its color by calling it Solidago bicolor.

There is also a species for every locality—the “alpine” for the mountains, the “seaside” for the brackish beach, the “bog” for the deep, soft wood, the “swamp” for the waste places.

The goldenrod is one of the merchant princes of the plant world. “Quick sales and short profits” is its motto, and it has arranged its wares so that the insects may find whatever they want and in any quantity. The result is that the field covered with goldenrod is an American entomologist's paradise.

In the days of Queen Elizabeth the goldenrod had a great reputation for healing wounds and was imported in considerable quantities and sold in the London markets in powder form at half a crown a pound. In range the goldenrod covers the continent with its cloth of gold. North, south, east, west, on mountain and by sea, in dry field and in wet swamp, it flourishes in its season and warms every landscape with its rich color.

Source: —, ed. (June 1917), “Our State Flowers: The Floral Emblems Chosen by the Commonwealths”, The National Geographic Magazine 31(6): 496–497. (Illustration from page 511.)