Baby Goldenrod

Plants 10-50 cm; rhizomes stout or caudices branching. Stems 1–6, decumbent to ascending, finely and densely puberulent. Leaves: basal present at flowering; basal and proximal petiolate, blades oblanceolate to narrowly obovate or spatulate, 20–100 × 5–20 mm, basal much smaller than proximal, margins serrate or entire, somewhat 3-nerved, apices obtuse to acute, cuspidate, faces moderately to densely finely puberulent; mid and distal cauline sessile, blades oblanceolate to elliptic to base, 1 prominent nerve, 10–30 × 4–12 mm, greatly reduced distally, attenuate, margins entire or distally serrate, apices acute, faces densely finely puberulent. Heads 30–100, in broadly corymbiform (modified paniculiform) arrays, sometimes somewhat secund. Peduncles 2–7 mm, moderately puberulent; bracteoles 0–2, elliptic, minute. Involucres campanulate, 4–6 mm. Phyllaries in 3–4 series, oblong, strongly unequal, margins ciliate, apices blunt, glabrous. Ray florets (5–)6–10 (fewer than number of disc florets); laminae ca. 3 × 1.3–1.6 mm. Disc florets 8–20; corollas 4–4.5 mm, lobes 0.8–1.1 mm. Cypselae (narrowly obconic) 2–2.8 mm, sparsely strigose; pappi 3.5–4 mm. 2n = 18.

Aster nanus (Nuttall) Kuntze; Solidago nivea Rydberg

Solidago nana is a North American plant species in the family Asteraceae, with the common names baby goldenrod and dwarf goldenrod. The species is native to deserts and mountainsides in the western United States, from the Rocky Mountains to the Great Basin in the states of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Solidago nana is a perennial herb up to 50 cm (20 inches) tall, spreading by means of underground rhizomes. The leaves near the bottom of the stem are narrow, up to 10 cm (4 inches) long; leaves get progressively smaller higher up on the stem. One plant can produce as many as 100 small yellow flower heads in a large, flat-topped array at the top of the plant.