A practical treatment of the Solidago gigantea complex

Abstract

The Solidago gigantea complex is usually treated in floristic works as being composed of a single species with two infraspecific taxa: var. gigantea and var. serotina. Recent studies by Beaudry revealed that the complex is composed of individuals of three different chromosome numbers. He proposed that the individuals at each ploidy level be treated as belonging to separate species: S. gigantea, 2n = 18; S. serotina, 2n = 36; and S. shinnersii, 2n = 54. Chromosome counts reported in this paper of individuals of the S. gigantea complex from a wide geographic range verify the existence of the three different ploidy levels. Evaluation of the morphological characters of these vouchers, however, shows that plants with different chromosome numbers cannot be consistently separated using morphological characters. It is proposed, therefore, that the complex be treated as a single species without any infraspecific categories.