Solidago juncea

Early goldenrod’s arching yellow flowers have a look of joyful abandon, like sunlit waves crashing into shore. The arrival of the plant’s blooms signals a windfall for pollinators, which visit enthusiastically. The goldenrods support so many organisms that they have been termed “keystone plants,” and it is recommended that every garden include at least one goldenrod. Early goldenrod is distinguished among the goldenrods for having an exceptionally high number of flowers per stem – 14.5 thousand, on average. Due to the flowers’ shallow corollas, the nectar serves a diversity of both short and long-tongued insects. Common visitors include hover flies, tachinid flies, wasps, beetles, small bees, large bees, moths, and butterflies. Research suggests that early goldenrod may be especially important to native bees, attracting more of the indigenous pollinators and fewer nonnative honeybees than do other goldenrods. Native to NE Ohio meadows and forest edges, early goldenrod grows well in bot