1	Rays white		13 Solidago bicolor
+	Rays yellow (may turn pale yellow with age)		(2)
2 (1)	Phyllaries recurved		12 Solidago squarrosa
+	Phyllaries appressed		(3)
3 (2)	Phyllaries and adjacent peduncle bracts moderately, finely stipitate-glandular; coastalplain, North Carolina		18 Solidago villosicarpa
+	Phyllaries and peduncle bracts not glandular		(4)
4 (3)	Phyllaries linear-lanceolate, attenuate (tapering to acute or rounded tips)		(5)
+	Phyllaries ovate to lanceolate, acute to obtuse or rounded		(6)
5 (4)	Stems and leaves strigillose; rays mostly 9–16; inner phyllaries not striate		16 Solidago puberula
+	Stems and leaves (proximal to mid stems) glabrous; rays mostly 6–9; inner phyllaries usually striate with 2 prominent secondary nerves		17 Solidago roanensis
6 (4)	Cypselae persistently moderately strigose; mid cauline leaves rhombic, proximal to mid cauline leaves usually sharply serrate; sandstone and limestone bluffs and ledges along Mississippi River; Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin		20 Solidago sciaphila
+	Cypselae glabrous or sparsely strigillose		(7)
7 (6)	Leaves and stems sparsely to densely hispid		14 Solidago hispida (in part)
+	Leaves and stems proximal to arrays glabrous		(8)
8 (7)	Stem glabrous in arrays; dunes of Lake Huron		14 Solidago hispida (in part)
+	Stems sparsely strigillose in mid to distal arrays		(9)
9 (8)	Arrays of heads either narrowly thyrsiform and often interrupted or branches well spaced; mid cauline leaves 5–20 mm wide; Massachusetts to se Indiana, s to Georgia and Missis-sippi, mostly avoiding coastal plain southward		15 Solidago erecta
+	Arrays of heads usually denser, broader, and crowded, sometimes more open in robust plants, or narrow in plants outside range of S. erecta; mid cauline leaves often more than 20 mm wide; Massachusetts to Georgia, w to e prairies, to Black Hills area, scattered s in Colorado to ne New Mexico		19 Solidago speciosa