Late Goldenrod

Solidago gigantea

KeystoneBird foodPollinator plant

Growing it

When	Flowers August to September; fruits September to October
Type	wildflower
Sun	Full sun, partial shade
Water	Low, medium
Soil	pH 5.5–7
Hardiness	zone 3–8
Mature height	1.5 m
Mature spread	0.75 m
Spacing	0.5 m
Years to maturity	2
Bloom	Aug–Sep
Flower colour	Yellow not verified, a genus-level estimate
In bloom	August September
Fruit	Sep–Oct
Native to	AB, SK

lance-shaped leaves about 10 cm long

Where it has been recorded

BothSpecimensObservations

101 squares of about 28 km, each holding at least one record. A square is not a claim that the plant grows throughout it, and an unshaded square is unrecorded rather than empty. Darker squares hold more records, which follows roads and towns as much as it follows the plant. 120 herbarium specimens and 90 field observations this project may redraw. A filled dot is a pressed sheet somebody can re-examine; a hollow ring is a photograph identified by community agreement. Where the dots are dense is where people have looked, not where the plant is commonest, and empty ground is unsurveyed rather than unoccupied. How this map is made.

Which ecoregions the records fall in

Aspen Parkland central AB / SK: 104 records, high confidence
Fescue Grassland south AB: 32 records, high confidence
Moist Mixed Grassland south AB / SK: 30 records, high confidence
Boreal Transition central AB / SK: 20 records, high confidence
Mixed Grassland south AB / SK: 19 records, medium confidence
Northern Continental Divide south AB: 16 records, medium confidence
Peace Lowland north AB: 8 records, medium confidence
Eastern Continental Ranges central AB: 6 records, low confidence
Mid-Boreal Uplands central AB / SK: 6 records, low confidence
Western Alberta Upland central AB: 6 records, low confidence
Cypress Upland south AB / SK: 3 records, low confidence

These are counts of records collected somewhere in the region, which is the resolution of the evidence: the map above shows where inside it. A region with 3 records is not the same claim as one with three hundred, so the count travels with the region. A region missing from this list means nobody has recorded it there, which is not the same as the plant being absent. Records within 900 m of a border count for neither side, because the border is not drawn finely enough to say which one they are on. Source: GBIF occurrence search + PRESERVED_SPECIMEN pass, retrieved 2026-08-24. Boundaries digitised from the National Ecological Framework for Canada v2.2 (Ecological Stratification Working Group 1995), simplified to about 900 m for display: an outline is accurate to roughly a kilometre, not to the metre. How these counts are made.

See every observation, live and current, on GBIF or iNaturalist.

Documented animals

82 documented relationships.

nectar for

Aerial Yellowjacket Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Anthidium mormonum LaManna et al. 2020
Anthidium utahense LaManna et al. 2020
Arctic Yellowjacket Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Augochlorella aurata Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Bald-faced Hornet Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Black-and-yellow Lichen Moth Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Brown-belted Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Central Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Ceratina calcarata Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Colletes fulgidus LaManna et al. 2020
Colletes phaceliae LaManna et al. 2020
Convergent Lady Beetle Acorn
Dejongia lobidactylus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Dianthidium ulkei LaManna et al. 2020
Eastern Calligrapher Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Eristalis flavipes Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Eristalis hirta LaManna et al. 2020
Euodynerus foraminatus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Exoprosopa dorcadion LaManna et al. 2020
Golden Northern Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Goldenrod Soldier Beetle Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Half-black Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Halictus confusus LaManna et al. 2020
Halictus farinosus LaManna et al. 2020
Halictus ligatus Clint Otto et al. 2020
Heriades cressoni LaManna et al. 2020
Heriades variolosa LaManna et al. 2020
Hunt's Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Hylaeus mesillae Clint Otto et al. 2020
Hylaeus modestus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Isodontia mexicana Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Lasioglossum albipenne LaManna et al. 2020
Lasioglossum lineatulum Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Megachile fidelis LaManna et al. 2020
Megachile pugnata LaManna et al. 2020
Megacyllene robiniae Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Melissodes microstictus LaManna et al. 2020
Monarch Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Northern Paper Wasp Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Orange Sulphur Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Orange-banded Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Orange-legged Furrow Bee LaManna et al. 2020
Paragus haemorrhous LaManna et al. 2020
Pearl Crescent Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Perdita octomaculata Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Philanthus gibbosus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Philanthus solivagus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Police Car Moth Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Red-belted Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Sphaerophoria contigua LaManna et al. 2020
Summer Azure Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Tricoloured Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Two-ranked Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Vespula maculifrons Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Villa alternata LaManna et al. 2020
Villa lateralis LaManna et al. 2020
Western Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Yellow-banded Bumble Bee Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Yellow-fronted Bumble Bee LaManna et al. 2020

pollen for

Andrena carlini Robertson 1929
Andrena miserabilis Robertson 1929
Batyle suturalis Robertson 1929
Black-tailed Bumble Bee Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Hunt's Bumble Bee Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bumble Bee Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Orange-legged Furrow Bee Robertson 1929
Oxybelus emarginatus Robertson 1929
Police Car Moth Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Red-belted Bumble Bee Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Small Sweat Bees Packer
Stratiomys normula Robertson 1929
Western Bumble Bee Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Yellow-fronted Bumble Bee Clements & F. L. Long 1923

caterpillar host for

Asteromyia carbonifera Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Asteromyia modesta Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Clastoptera proteus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Dasineura folliculi Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Goldenrod Gall Fly Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Rhopalomyia capitata Specimen records from iNaturalist.org

seed for

American Goldfinch Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Also worth knowing

Safety

Toxicity not assessed, absence of a warning is not a guarantee of safety

Edible parts

Leaves, flowers

Buying it

About $8–$16 per plant (estimate), usually stocked by garden centres. Estimate (herb default); AB retail as of 2026

Where these numbers came from

Flower detail: not verified, a genus-level estimate