Solidago shortii, commonly known as Short's goldenrod, is a species of goldenrod in the family Asteraceae. The only known populations of Short's goldenrod occur around the Blue Licks Battlefield State Park area of Kentucky and Harrison-Crawford State Forest in Indiana. It was listed on the Federal Register of Endangered Species on September 5, 1985, and was given a global rank of G1 (critically endangered) on February 29, 2000. Description Short's goldenrod is a rhizomatous perennial. It reaches heights of and has leaves measuring long and wide. It produces yellow flowers from mid-August to November, releasing seeds from late September to late November. Short's goldenrod reproduces vegetatively by rhizomes and sexually by seeds. Plants are incapable of self-pollination and because the vegetatively produced clones spread out, it is difficult to exactly estimate the number of true individuals in a population. The goldenrod soldier beetle plays an important role in cross pollination, and bison may have been important in distributing seeds at one time. Unlike other goldenrod species, Short's goldenrod does not appear to spread via wind distribution of seeds. Short's goldenrod differs from the more common goldenrod Solidago altissima by being shorter and spreading more slowly (whether vegetatively or by seed). However, where it is established, Short's goldenrod is more drought-tolerant. A number of sites have existed for at least 50 years. Plants are upright to ascending, growing 60 to 130 cm tall with single stems or as clumps with 10 or more stems. They are produced from short, somewhat woody rhizomes. Plants produce basal leaves early in the growing season that wither away before flowering, and many mid- and distally produced stem leaves. Typically the lower third of the cauline or stem leaves wither away also before flowering. The short, firm cauline leaves are subsessile or obscurely petiolated with narrowly elliptic to lanceolate blades, with three nerves and distally serrate margins. Plants flower in August and October with 50 to 150 heads of flowers per flowering branch. The inflorescences are paniculiformly shaped with recurved branches on short sparsely strigose peduncles, 0.5–3 mm long. The bracteoles are very small and linear in shape. The flower involucres are narrowly campanulate in shape and 4–5 mm long. Phyllaries are unequal, in 3–4 series, both lanceolate to linear lanceolate in shape. Each flower head has 5 to 8 ray florets and 5 to 9 disc florets; the ray florets have laminae 2–3 mm long