Solidago virgaurea – goldenrod – was collected for the Darwin Tree of Life project by Dr Markus Ruhsam in a woodland near the banks of Loch Lomond, on the 1st Sept 2021.
A widespread herb, it is also grown as a garden flower, with many different cultivars. Goldenrod has many traditional uses. Its chemistry includes flavonoids, terpenes and saponin molecules, and they have a wide range of potential medicinal properties, including antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, diuretics, antibacterials and antifungals. A high-quality sequenced genome for this species could be used to investigate chemical pathways and breed cultivars with higher expression of some of the bioactive compounds.