As we noted goldenrods are generally fall bloomers, especially up north. The Omaha tribe of the Great Plains used the fact as a demarcation of sorts on their calendar. They noted that when away on their summer buffalo hunt they started to see late goldenrod (S. gigantea) in bloom, their corn crops back home were beginning to ripen.

After the Boston Tea Party, the tea drinkers of New England decided they needed to sip something more patriotic than the Chinese varieties the British shipped to the Colonies. So they made a substitute they called liberty tea using the dried leaves and flowers of S. Odora — Chapman's goldenrod. The stuff tasted reasonably well, so much so that the Americans started to export it to China. Chapman's, by the way, happens to grow in South Florida. Goldenrods are also edible, although some consider them nothing more than famine food.

Goldenrod has been used to make dye. Yellow, of course. Thomas Edison tried to make rubber from goldenrod, with a degree of success — Henry Ford gave Edison a Model T with tires made of goldenrod rubber. But commercially, goldenrod never quite made it to the mass market, the invention of synthetic rubber during World War II making it unnecessary. It's also been used in fibermaking as a substitute for hemp.

It's been used medicinally for thousands of years, in Europe dating back at least to Roman times and probably before. Its uses include as a diuretic, as an anti-inflammatory and as an emetic (to cause vomiting). Various people have used it to treat cancer, burns and fever. But perhaps the oddest use was as a carminative — to reduce flatulence.