Goldenrod

Goldenrod is a yellow flowering plant in the Family Asteraceae, the Latin term for which is Solidago meaning "to stregnthen or make whole".

There are approximately 150 species that make up the genus Solidago, most being found in meadows and pastures, along roads, ditches and waste areas in North America. The species are very difficult to distinguish so I am unable to tell you exactly which type this is.

Thomas Edison tried to find a domestic source of natural rubber and found it occurring naturally in the Goldenrod plant. Examples of rubber made from Goldenrod can still be seen in his lab, elastic and rot-free, 80 years later. The tires on the Model T given to Thomas Edison by his good friend Henry Ford were made from Goldenrod. A year before his death, Edison turned his research over to the US government but it never went beyond the experimental stage.