White goldenrod , silverrod , verge d’or bicolore

Aster bicolor (Linnaeus) Nees; A. pubens (M. A. Curtis ex Torrey & A. Gray) Kuntze; Solidago alba Miller; S. curtisii Torrey & A. Gray var. pubens (M. A. Curtis ex Torrey & A. Gray) A. Gray; S. pubens M. A. Curtis ex Torrey & A. Gray

Plants 20–100 cm; caudices branching. Stems 1(–5), erect, usually branching only in array, moderately to densely hispido-villous. Leaves: basal and proximal cauline tapering to winged petioles, blades oblanceolate to ovate, 35–210 × 15–50 mm, margins serrate or crenate, apices acute, sparsely to moderately soft hispido-villous, more densely so on abaxial nerves; rosettes on rhizome branches sometimes present at flowering; mid and distal cauline sessile, blades elliptic, 15–50 × 5–15 mm, distally reduced, margins entire. Heads 12–270 (1–15 per branch) in usually wand-shaped paniculiform arrays , of short axillary and terminal racemiform, non-secund clusters, sometimes proximal branches elongated, ascending and bearing short axillary and terminal racemiform clusters. Peduncles 1.5–2.5 mm, hispido-villous to canescent. Involucres campanulate, 3–5 mm. Phyllaries in 3–4 series, appressed, strongly unequal, oblong, margins white, scarious, apices obtuse to rounded. Ray florets 7–9 (white); laminae 3.5–4 × 1–1.5 mm. Disc florets 9–12; corollas 3–4 mm, lobes 0.6–1.2 mm. Cypselae (narrowly obconic) 1.5–2.5 mm, smooth or with 5–8 narrow, darker, sunken striations, glabrous or sparsely strigose; pappi 2.5–3.5 mm (sometimes strongly clavate). 2n =18.

Flowering Aug–Oct. Sandy and clay soils, dry open woods, rocky slopes, disturbed soils; 0–1000+ m; N.B., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., Ga., Ill., Ind., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Miss., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.