Wildflower (forb) · Asteraceae
Wrinkleleaf goldenrod
Solidago rugosa · includes its varieties and subspecies
Wrinkleleaf goldenrod is recorded as native to 28 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 912 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Wrinkleleaf goldenrod at a glance
- Native in
- 912 counties, across 28 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 3.3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Wrinkleleaf goldenrod is recorded as native to 28 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 912 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 912 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 7 counties
- Arkansas 30 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- Florida 11 counties
- Georgia 20 counties
- Illinois 21 counties
- Indiana 32 counties
- Kentucky 37 counties
- Louisiana 40 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Maryland 23 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 62 counties
- Mississippi 47 counties
- Missouri 54 counties
- New Jersey 21 counties
- New York 48 counties
- North Carolina 83 counties
- Ohio 40 counties
- Pennsylvania 66 counties
- Rhode Island 5 counties
- South Carolina 36 counties
- Tennessee 38 counties
- Texas 33 counties
- Vermont 12 counties
- Virginia 91 counties
- West Virginia 23 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3.3 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
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 24 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
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 95
- 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
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Asteraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- SORU2
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
- Solidago rugosa (PLANTS symbol SORU2), including 4 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