Roan Mountain goldenrod

Aster monticola (Torrey & A. Gray) Kuntze; Solidago alleghaniensis House; S. curtisii Torrey & A. Gray var. monticola Torrey & A. Gray; S. maxonii Pollard; S. monticola (Torrey & A. Gray) Chapman 1860, not Jordan 1857; S. roanensis var. monticola (Torrey & A. Gray) Fernald

Plants 20–100 cm; caudices branched, sometimes elongate. Stems usually single, glabrous proximally, hirsuto-puberulent in arrays, sometimes irregularly or decurrently so proximally. Leaves: proximalmost withering, smaller; basal and proximal cauline tapering to winged petioles, blades elliptic to elliptic-obovate or subrhombic, mostly 60–150 × 10–50 mm, margins serrate, usually acuminate, glabrous or scabrellous distally; mid and distal cauline sessile, blades mostly rhombic-elliptic to narrowly lanceolate, 20–40 × 5–8 mm. Heads 50–250, in elongate, narrowly paniculiform arrays, leafy-bracteate proximally, not secund, proximal branches sometimes elongated and ascending. Peduncles 1–4 mm, bracteolate. Involucres campanulate, 4–6 mm. Phyllaries in 3–4 series, appressed, unequal (outer ¹ / 2 length of inner), linear to lanceolate-deltate (inner series usually striate with 2 prominent secondary nerves), apices narrowly acute or minutely obtuse. Ray florets 6–9; laminae 2–3 × 1–1.5 mm. Disc florets mostly 8–12; corollas 4–4.5 mm, lobes 1–1.5 mm. Cypselae (tan) 1.75–2.5 mm, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely strigose; pappi 1.5–2.5 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering Jul–Sep. Woods and clearings, edges of balds, crevices in rocks, mountain provinces; 500–2000 m; Ala., Ga., Md., N.C., S.C., Tenn., Va., W.Va.