in botany: A genus of plants belonging to the class of sympetalae, and to the order of polygamia superflua; and in the natural system ranging under the 49th order, Compositae. The receptacle is naked; the pappus simple; the radii are commonly five; the scales of the calyx are imbricated and curved inward. There are 14 species: sempervirens, canadensis, altissima, lateriflora, bicolor, lanceolata, coxia, mexicana, flexicaulis, latifolia, virgaurea, minuta, rigida, noveboracensis. Among these there is only one species, which is a native of Britain, the virgaurea, or golden rod, which grows frequently in rough mountainous pastures and woods. The stems are branched, and vary from five inches to five feet high, but their common height is about a yard. The leaves are a little hard and rough to the touch; the lower ones oval-lanceolate, generally a little serrated and supported on footstalks; those on the stalks are elliptical; the flowers are yellow, and grow in spikes from the axils of the leaves; the scales of the calyx are lanceolate, of unequal length, and of a pale green colour; the female florets in the rays are from five to eight in number; the hermaphrodite flowers in the disc from ten to twelve. There is a variety of this species called cambrica to be found on rocks from six inches to a foot high.