Search / Plant Profile / Solidago villosicarpa

Plant Profile

Coastal Goldenrod (Solidago villosicarpa)

Global Rank: G1 - Critically Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Asteraceae
State: NC
Nature Serve ID: 148511
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection: 10/16/2004

Description:

Solidago villosicarpa is a late-flowering goldenrod with large, bright lemon-yellow floral heads, hairy stems and fruits, mostly hairless leaves, densely villous achenes, and thyrsoid inflorescences. It currently occurs in two counties in the North Carolina Coastal Plain. It was first collected in 1949 in Brunswick County, NC, but was misidentified as Solidago sciaphila. In 1963, a population was found in New Hanover County and misidentified as S. erecta. In 1990 and 1991, three more sites were found in Onslow County, when the NC Natural Heritage Program inventoried the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base; in 1998, a fourth population was found in Pender County. The Coastal Goldenrod received its formal name in 2000, but has not been found again in either Brunswick or New Hanover County (Sinclair 2004; LeBlond 2002; Morse 2005). The Coastal Goldenrod occurs in a wide range of habitats, including the Maritime Evergreen Forest or Maritime Scrub, Dry-Mesic Oak-Hickory Forest, Coastal Fringe Evergreen Forest, and Pine-Hardwood Forest. All four current populations occur in areas of past logging, and two of these populations have shown a vigorous response to tree blow-downs resulting from hurricanes in 1996 and 1998. Because of the wide range of habitats in which it has been found and its association with disturbances, it is thought that this goldenrod is more wide-ranging along the coast of the Carolinas than is now known (LeBlond 2002; Morse 2005; LeBlond 2000)

Where is Coastal Goldenrod (Solidago villosicarpa) located in the wild?

Habitat:

The Coastal Goldenrod is endemic to the Coastal Plain of North Carolina, where it has been found in several different natural communities. The Brunswick County historic location is thought to have been either a Maritime Evergreen Forest or a Maritime Scrub community and was located on a coastal barrier island, while the historic New Hanover population was found on a sandy roadside. The three current sites in Onslow County are classified as Dry-Mesic Oak-Hickory Forest, and may range into Coastal Fringe Evergreen Forest; all three sites have an open understory. The current population in Pender County is located in a Pine-Hardwood Forest, which was most likely a longleaf pine community before it was logged. Soils where this goldenrod is found have ranged from excessively drained to well-drained. Within these sites, the Coastal Goldenrod is typically associated with a canopy of oaks, pines, maples, and sweetgums (LeBlond 2000; Weakley 2002; Franklin 2004; Krings 2003).

Distribution:

Onslow and Pender counties, North Carolina; three of the four populations are located on the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in Onslow County (Sinclair 2004).

States & Provinces:

Coastal Goldenrod can be found in North Carolina

Which CPC Partners conserve Coastal Goldenrod (Solidago villosicarpa)?

North Carolina Botanical Garden

Not Sponsored

Assigned 06/09/17

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

A recently described species of goldenrod (LeBlond, 2000) known only from a few sites on the outer Coastal Plain in North Carolina.

01/01/2010

Ground surface alterations, from agriculture (including pine plantations) or other infrastructure uses. On the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in particular, ground surface alterations including land alteration associated with construction, vehicle us

01/01/2010

Four known populations, each with 100-1400 individuals (LeBlond 2002; Sinclair 2004).

01/01/2010

Not known.

01/01/2010

The Department of Defense plans to monitor and manage the three populations located on the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base according to the guidelines proposed by NCNHP and USFWS, including partnering with NCBG for germplasm storage. The management goal will be to keep the populations from falling by more than 30 % for a ten-year period. If this drop occurs, the DOD, USFWS, and NCNHP will review the management plan and could suggest alterations. The fourth population is located on private land. The landowners were contacted and educated about the conservation need, and the USFWS plans to pursue a more formal conservation agreement, (Sinclair 2004).

01/01/2010

Not known.

01/01/2010

Additional seed collections.