Basal leaves often linear-oblanceolate, usually not crenate. Involucres usually 4.6-5.8 mm. Disc corolla lobes (0.6-) 0.8-1.5 mm. Cypselae moderately strigose; pappi usually exceeding ray corolla tubes and bases of disc corolla lobes. 2n = 36.

Flowering Aug-Oct. Open, sandy and gravelly soils, disturbed sites, roadsides, prairies and grasslands, drier open mixed deciduous and conifers woods; 200-1600 m; Alta., B.C., Man., Ont., Sask.; Ark., Colo., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Mich., Minn., Mo., Mont., Nebr., N.Mex., N.Dak., Okla., S.Dak., Tex., Wyo.

Subspecies decemflora is the tetraploid prairie and lower elevation cordilleran race of the species. Combinations based on Solidago longipetiolata have been applied to this race; the name does not have nomenclatural priority.

Frequent on the dunes bordering Lake Michigan and local elsewhere in the lake area in dry sandy or gravelly soil.