Wildflower (forb) · Asteraceae
Stiff goldenrod
Oligoneuron rigidum · includes its varieties and subspecies
Stiff goldenrod is recorded as native to 36 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 818 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Stiff goldenrod at a glance
- Native in
- 818 counties, across 36 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a PLANTS minimum temperature −43°F
- Mature height
- 3.6 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −43°F; zone 3a winters bottom out at −40°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Stiff goldenrod is recorded as native to 36 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 818 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 818 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 3 counties
- Arkansas 9 counties
- Colorado 10 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Georgia 4 counties
- Illinois 85 counties
- Indiana 32 counties
- Iowa 20 counties
- Kansas 75 counties
- Kentucky 24 counties
- Louisiana 5 counties
- Maryland 5 counties
- Massachusetts 3 counties
- Michigan 23 counties
- Minnesota 73 counties
- Mississippi 4 counties
- Missouri 73 counties
- Montana 43 counties
- Nebraska 51 counties
- New Jersey 9 counties
- New Mexico 5 counties
- New York 15 counties
- North Carolina 6 counties
- North Dakota 47 counties
- Ohio 18 counties
- Oklahoma 18 counties
- Pennsylvania 14 counties
- Rhode Island 1 county
- South Carolina 1 county
- South Dakota 38 counties
- Tennessee 10 counties
- Texas 25 counties
- Virginia 15 counties
- West Virginia 1 county
- Wisconsin 44 counties
- Wyoming 9 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record of a variety (OLRIR). “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3.6 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 14 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 5 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −43°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 80
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Late Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Asteraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- OLRI
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Oligoneuron rigidum (PLANTS symbol OLRI), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources