9/2/08
A plant you probably recognize no matter where you live is goldenrod. In the U.S. alone, there are at least 130 species, all with yellow plumes formed like steeples, branches, feathers, clubs, wands, or flat-top disks. The plant is well-named, often filling meadows or lining roadsides in vivid gold carpets.
If this mass of flowers caused hayfever, as so many believe, then we would all spend months with red eyes and goopy sinuses! Some people do get an allergic reaction when handling goldenrod, but hayfever is caused by pollen, not touch. Goldenrod pollen is designed to be carried by insects, so it is too heavy and sticky to be picked up by the wind — unlike the pollen of ragweed, the true hayfever culprit. Ragweed is vaguely similar to goldenrod and blooms around the same time (late summer, early fall). I yank it wherever I find it in the yard.
Goldenrod, I only remove when it invades my flower or vegetable gardens. Otherwise I leave it for the birds and bugs. Its food value to humans is limited to a nice tea, though medicinally it has been used by herbalists for centuries to treat wounds, arthritis, colds and flu, allergies, sore throats, urinary tract infections, and kidney stones. It also makes a strong yellow dye.
For a while, goldenrod was used to make rubber. The tire industry originally depended on South American trees for rubber, which motivated the famous U.S. inventor, Thomas Edison, to combine resources with industrialists Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone to find a native resource. They came up with a giant hybrid goldenrod that yielded 12% latex (rubber). Ultimately, synthetic rubber (made from petroleum) replaced natural rubber . I wouldn’t be surprised if we someday went back to goldenrod-based rubber products, given today’s shrinking oil supply and rising prices.
Keep that in mind if you’re tempted to mow down a goldenrod field!
Carolyn Haley
Author: Open Your Heart with Gardens
Posted by: Opening the heart, gardens, gardening, yard, plants — Carolyn Haley
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