Editing Solidago (section)

==Description==
[[File:Bombus cryptarum - Solidago virgaurea - Keila2.jpg|thumb|left|[[European goldenrod]] is pollinated by ''[[Bombus cryptarum]]'']]
''Solidago'' species are perennials growing from woody [[caudex|caudices]] or [[rhizome]]s. Their stems range from [[decumbent]] (crawling) to ascending or erect, with a range of heights going from {{convert|5|cm|abbr=on}} to over a meter. Most species are unbranched, but some do display branching in the upper part of the plant. Both leaves and stems vary from [[glabrousness|glabrous]] (hairless) to various forms of [[pubescent (botany)|pubescence]] (strigose, strigillose, hispid, stipitate-glandular or villous). In some species, the basal leaves are shed before flowering. The [[leaf margin]]s are most commonly entire, but often display heavier [[serration]]. Some leaves may display trinerved [[Leaf#Venation (arrangement of the veins)|venation]] rather than the pinnate venation usual across Asteraceae.<ref name=fna/>

The [[flower head]]s are usually of the radiate type (typical daisy flower heads with distinct ray and disc [[floret]]s) but sometimes discoid (with only disc florets of mixed, sterile, male and  types). Only ray florets are female, others are male, hermaphroditic or entire sterile. Head [[Bract|involucres]] are campanulate to cylindric or attenuate. [[Floret]] corollas are usually yellow, but white in the ray florets of a few species (such as ''[[Solidago bicolor]]''); they are typically hairless. Heads usually include between 2 and 35 disc florets, but in some species this may go up to 60. Filaments are inserted closer to the base of the corolla than its middle. Numerous heads are usually grouped in complex compound inflorescences where heads are arranged in multiple [[raceme]]s, [[panicle]]s, [[corymb]]s, or secund arrays (with florets all on the same side).<ref name=fna/>

''Solidago'' [[Asteraceae#Fruits and seeds|cypselae]] are narrowly [[obconic]] to cylindrical in shape, and they are sometimes somewhat compressed. They have eight to 10 ribs usually and are hairless or moderately hispid. The [[Pappus (flower structure)|pappus]] is very big with barbellate bristles.<ref name=fna/>
[[Image:Goldenrodbee.jpg|thumb|right|Goldenrod and visiting ''[[Cerceris]]'' wasp]]
The many goldenrod species can be difficult to distinguish, due to their similar bright, golden-yellow flower heads that bloom in late summer. Propagation is by wind-disseminated [[seed]]s or by spreading underground [[rhizome]]s which can form colonies of vegetative [[vegetative reproduction|clone]]s of a single plant. They are mostly [[photoperiodism|short-day plants]] and bloom in late summer and early fall. Some species produce abundant nectar when moisture is plentiful, or when the weather is warm and sunny.

The section ''[[Solidago sect. Ptarmicoidei|Ptarmicoidei]]'' is sometimes treated as a separate genus [[Solidago sect. Ptarmicoidei|''Oligoneuron'']],<ref name=fna_ptarmicoidei>{{cite web|url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=316945|title=''Solidago'' Linnaeus sect. ''Ptarmicoidei'' (House) Semple & Gandhi|work=Flora of North America}}</ref> and is dropped by flat-topped to rounded [[corymbiform]] flowerheads.