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For Your Garden - January 2017
Native plants provide beauty as well as food and shelter for wildlife. Native species are adapted to the Illinois climate. They require little or no watering and are resistant to drought, insects and most diseases. Because they are perennials, you can welcome their presence year after year.
stiff goldenrod (Oligoneuron rigidum)
Stiff goldenrod is a perennial herb that has hairy leaves in an alternate arrangement along the hairy stem. The stiff, lance-shaped upper leaves clasp the stem. Lower leaves are large, oblong, short-stalked and rough. The small, yellow flowers develop in a broad, flat-topped cluster at the stem tip. Both disk and ray flowers are present, and both are fertile. There are six to 14 rays per flower. The one-seeded fruit is dry and hard. This plant may attain a height of one to five feet. Stiff goldenrod may be found statewide in Illinois, although it is uncommon in the southern tip of the state. It grows in dry to moist prairies, dry thickets, sandy soil and rocky, open ground. Flowers are produced from July through October. Flowers, leaves, stems and buds all provide food for wildlife.
Classification and taxonomy are based on Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 2014. Vascular flora of Illinois: A field guide. Fourth edition. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 536 pp.
Illinois Range
Native Plant Information
For more information about Illinois native plants, visit our Native Habitat Descriptions, Requirements, and Plant Lists page. The following publications are available from the IDNR on our publications page.
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Illinois Status: common, native
