Solidago gigantea is a North American plant species in the family Asteraceae. Its common names include tall goldenrod and giant goldenrod, among others.
Goldenrod is the state flower of Kentucky, and Solidago gigantea is the state flower of Nebraska.
Solidago gigantea is a perennial herb that reaches heights of up to tall, sometimes spreading by means of underground rhizomes. It often grows in clumps with no leaves at the base but numerous leaves on the stem. At the top, each stem produces a sizable array of many small flower heads, sometimes several hundred. Each head is yellow, containing both disc florets and ray florets.
Solidago gigantea is found in a wide variety of natural habitats, although it is restricted to areas with at least seasonally moist soils.
It is a widespread species known from most of non-arctic North America east of the Rocky Mountains. It has been reported from every state and province from Alberta to Nova Scotia to Florida to Texas, and also from the state of Nuevo León in northeastern Mexico.
Solidago gigantea is highly invasive throughout Europe and Asia. In its non-native range, it exerts a negative impact on native communities by decreasing species richness and diversity, apparently due to its intense competitive effects, rapid growth, or polyploidization. In the non-native European range, several management options are applied, such as periodical flooding, mowing, mulching, grazing, or herbicide to reduce the negative impact of the species on native biodiversity.
Parasitized by the Basidiomycete Coleosporium asterum.[1]
This species is host to the following insect induced galls: