Team rediscovers rare flower in Maryland after 112 years

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Officials say a rare flower has been rediscovered in Maryland after 112 years.

The Washington Post reported the riverbank goldenrod was found in Montgomery County. The state’s Department of Natural Resources officials made the announcement Wednesday.

Wes Knapp, a botanist and ecologist for the agency that found the yellow flowering plant, says the goldenrod is in Virginia but hasn’t been seen in Maryland since 1903.

Knapp and a team of researchers began their search in 2014. It wasn’t until a second outing in September 2015 that they found a patch of goldenrods, just west of Bethesda.

Also known as Solidago rupestris, the riverbank goldenrod is a member of the sunflower family. Officials say it’s rare on the East Coast, and is found along river edges scoured by floods.