BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Solidago missouriensis | Prairie Goldenrod 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Prairie goldenrod is a warm-season [22] native perennial forb [12,18].
The leaves are somewhat rigid, the basal leaves being largest, petioled
[41], and often early-deciduous.  The cauline leaves are progressively
reduced upward.  Leaves are 0.6 to 4.9 inches (1.5-12.5 cm) long [5].
Stems are 4 to 39 inches (0.1-1.0 m) tall [5,14], arising singly or
clustered.  The inflorescence is a rather rounded, compact, branched
terminal panicle [19] composed of small, congested flowerheads [44].
Ray flowers are 0.16 to 0.2 inches (4-5 mm) long.  Disk flowers are 0.12
to 0.16 inches (3-4 mm) long [14].  The fruit is a small achene [5]; the
pappus consists of numerous bristles [19].  Plants arise from creeping
cordlike rhizomes [14] or a spreading caudex [19], or sometimes both
[18].  Roots tend to be rather superficial [44], but can reach 6.6 feet
(2 m) deep [5].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte
   Geophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Prairie goldenrod reproduces by seed and by vigorous rhizomes.  It can
form dense colonies in both uplands and lowlands [22].

Prairie goldenrod stores seeds in the seedbank.  In the flora of remnant
tallgrass prairie in central Missouri, prairie goldenrod was one of the
most common elements.  Prairie goldenrod seeds made up 7 percent of the
seedbank and 63 percent of the seed rain from June 1 to December 5, 1978
[34].

Germination rates of prairie goldenrod seeds from western North Dakota
were tested from January through May, 1978.  With wet cold storage the
highest germination rate (64%) was in January, but dropped to low levels
in other months.  With room temperature storage the highest germination
rate (47%) was in March.  With dry cold storage the highest germination
rate (45%) was in February [7].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Prairie goldenrod inhabits rather dry, open places on the slopes of
valleys and on plains, and reaches moderately high elevations in
mountains [20].  It is also found in sparsely wooded areas, on grassy
roadsides [5,18], on rocky slopes [14], and in open communities where
sod is broken along railroads, ditches, and fences [44].

Prairie goldenrod growth is poor on gravel and dense clay, fair on sand
and clay, and good on sandy to clayey loam.  It grows poorly on strongly
acidic and saline soils [12], though it shows tolerance of weakly acidic
to moderately basic and weakly saline soils [44].  Its optimum soil
depth is 10 to 20 inches (25-51 cm) [12].

Prairie goldenrod occurs at the following elevations [12]:

                   Elevation (feet)     Elevation (m)

        CO          3,700-10,000         1,128-3,048
        MT          3,200-9,000            975-2,743
        UT          4,200-8,600          1,280-2,621 
        WY          3,700-10,600         1,128-3,231


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Prairie goldenrod pioneers disturbed sites, but is also tolerant of
partial shade [44] and has been characterized as a mid-seral species in
northwestern Iowa [33].

During the long drought period of the 1930's in the Midwest, prairie
goldenrod colonized bare areas where grasses and other native plants had
died out [5].  By 1940, after the drought, prairie goldenrod patches had
thinned out and the plants were dwarfed by competition with grasses.  By
1943, prairie goldenrod was mostly or completely suppressed [45].

In the Konza Prairie, a tallgrass prairie preserve of northeastern
Kansas, prairie goldenrod occurred in trace amounts on disturbed soil of
badger dens and also on undisturbed nearby sites.  It also occurred on
pocket gopher mounds and on prairie vole burrow systems [16].

In southwestern Montana mining towns abandoned for between 45 and 77
years, prairie goldenrod occurred on some abandoned roads (high-intensity
disturbance), around old foundations of some buildings (moderate-intensity
disturbance), and on some control sites (no disturbance except grazing) [24].

In contrast to the above reports of prairie goldenrod as a pioneer
species, it occurred on mesic slopes of both undisturbed virgin prairie
and overgrazed prairie in northwestern Iowa, but not on the drier sites
of badger disturbances [33]. 


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Prairie goldenrod resumes growth from rhizomes and/or the caudex in
spring to early summer.  Plants often shed basal leaves after flowering
begins.  Seeds mature about 6 weeks after flowers bloom.  If plants are
damaged they make variable regrowth in the summer until seed maturation
[44].

In southwestern North Dakota prairie goldenrod begins growth in
mid-April and obtains mature height by early July to mid-August,
depending on the year [17].

Prairie goldenrod flowering times are:

                  Begin         Peak           End
                Flowering     Flowering     Flowering

     CO         June          August        September  [12]  
     IL         August        ----          September  [28]
     KS         July          ----          October    [5]
     MO         July          ----          September  [21]
     MT         June          August        September  [12]
     ND         July          August        August     [9,17]
     SD         ----          July          ----       [22]
     UT         July          August        September  [12]
     WY         June          August        September  [12]
Great Plains    July          ----          October    [19]

Related categories for Species: Solidago missouriensis | Prairie Goldenrod