Plants 30-150 cm ; caudices branching, woody. Stems 1-10+, erect, stout, hairy. Leaves: basal and proximal cauline usually present at flowering, abruptly narrowed to long petioles, blades ovate to rhombic, 80-200 × 24-50 mm, firm, flat, margins entire to crenate, sometimes undulate, apices obtuse to acute, faces densely hairy; mid to distal cauline sessile, blades ovate, 30-50 × 15-17 mm, stiff, greatly reduced distally, margins entire or finely serrate, sometimes undulate, apices acute to obtuse. Heads 9-190, in corymbiform arrays, compact or branches long and spreading, densely hairy throughout. Peduncles 3-15 mm, strigillose-canescent, bracteoles 1-3, linear-lanceolate. Involucres campanulate, 6-8 mm. Phyllaries in 3-4 series, unequal, oblong, conspicuously striate (3-5 pronounced nerves), obtuse. Ray florets 6-13; laminae 1.4-5.4 × 1.2-1.9 mm. Disc florets 14-35; corollas 4.3-6.1 mm, lobes 0.6-1.1 mm. Cypselae (obconic) 0.8-1.7 mm (ribbed), glabrous or strigillose apically; pappi 3-4 mm. Solidago rigida is divided into three subspecies with distinct morphologies and partially overlapping ranges. Intermediates occur between the subspecies in areas of sympatry.