This native diploid (2n = 22) is widely scattered across east-central states, but generally uncommon and restricted to dry infertile soils on or near non-calcareous outcrops. There are two major sections of its range, centered in the Ozarks and Midwest; and from the Blue Ridge and Piedmont to mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain (K). Remarkably, the species is generally rare to absent in the intervening region centered on the Ohio River watershed. In Ky. it is known only from a few scattered western sites, plus a small cluster in the eastern Knobs. The only records dated after 1980 have come from CALD and LIVI.