Prairie Goldenrod (Oligoneuron album) doesn't look like your typical "goldenrod". But it was once considered a member of the genus Solidago, lending some scientific basis to calling it a goldenrod. To some it is still referred to as Solidago ptarmicoides. This plant has been kicked around taxonomically an almost shocking number of times. But I digress....
Prairie Goldenrod is a legitimate rarity in North Carolina, and is either absent from or rare in most other southeastern states. Why in the world doesn't it occur in Virginia?
The apparent rarity or absence from much of the southeast may not be surprising since it is presumably PRAIRIE Goldenrod and relatively few such habitats occur in the region. However, one site, perhaps the only extant site in North Carolina, is both botanically rich and very much "prairie-like".
Prairie-like habitat of Oligoneuron album in Granville Co, North Carolina; note faint white specks of Oligoneuron stems in flower., see inset below |
Soil from the North Carolina Oligoneuron "prairie" site, classified by soil scientists as a Mollisol. The dark color is one the characteristics of this soil order. |
USDA Soil Map, Mollisols |
It is hard to overstate how unusual this soil is in Carolina. As the generalized USDA soil map shows, there are no mapped Mollisols of sufficient extent to appear on the map almost anywhere in the southeastern US outside Florida. A retired University Soil Scientist once told me it took years for the existence of these soils to be accepted in North Carolina, even having the "dirt in hand", since historical convention suggested such soils couldn't develop in the North Carolina climate. But again, I digress......
This post was supposed to be about Prairie Goldenrod.
Oligoneuerun album apparently thriving in remnant tallgrass prairies in Paintbrush Prairie, Missouri.(08/17/2015) Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium) is barely visible as well. |
Prairie Goldenrod does actually occur in undeniably classic "tallgrass prairies" in the midwestern US, which some refer to as the Central Tallgrass region. I have observed it in several tallgrass prairie remnants in Missouri such as that shown above.
Taken together, my admittedly few observations seem to fit into a nice and tidy picture of the habitat for Prairie Goldenrod.
But, then I visited alvars along Lake Huron in Ontario Canada.
I was absolutely shocked to find Prairie Goldenrod on lakeshore pavements (on exposed rock I believe is dolomite), and even in loose sandy soil at the margins of Lake Huron!. These were NOT PRAIRIES.
Prairie Goldenrod on alvar,lakeshore pavement, Misery Bay |
Prairie Goldenrod along Lake Huron, Ontario Canada |