Mississippi Valley goldentop

Solidago leptocephala Torrey & A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 2: 226. 1842

Perennials or subshrubs, 30–100 cm. Stems (erect, striate-angled) glabrous, not glaucous. Leaves ascending to spreading-ascending; blades 3- or -5-nerved, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, 40–80 × 3–6(–9) mm, lengths 8–18 times widths, abruptly reduced distally, firm-herbaceous, margins scabrous, apices mostly acute, faces glabrous, little and obscurely gland-dotted (9–29 dots per mm²), sometimes pustulate. Heads glomerate or pedunculate, in compact, usually round-topped arrays 6–35% of plant heights. Involucres obconic, 4–6 mm. Phyllaries yellowish at bases, usually green-tipped, outer narrowly ovate, inner nearly linear, apices rounded to subacute (sometimes slightly resinous). Ray florets usually 7–14. Disc florets 3–6; corollas 3.3–4.4 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering Sep–Nov. Moist, sandy soils of open areas, woodlands, and forest openings; 0–100 m; Ala., Ark., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., Mo., N.C., Okla., Tenn., Tex.

I have seen no specimens of Euthamia leptocephala from Kentucky; it is to be expected there.