This is largely restricted to the northern Interior Low Plateaus, west-central Appalachian regions, and the western Great Lakes region. H. canadensis is usually found on limestone, but there are records from various shales and other substrates, and some differentiation is expected across its range; 2n = 12, 14 and 32 (Cr; Church & Taylor 2005). In Ky., Short & Peter (1835) noted it as "a plant profusely abundant on the denuded hills around the Blue-licks, in this state, and the knobs back of New Albany, Indiana..." Colls. mapped here from w. Ky. extend the range mapped by Terrell (1996), but some of these suggest intergradation with lanceolata (e.g. colls. from BARR and SIMP at WKU). There may also be some intergradation with longifolia, especially in Ind. Although canadensis is often misidentified as lanceolata or longifolia, careful examination shows that it is generally distinct due to its persistent basal rosettes of basal leaves, generally with marginal hairs 0.2-0.8 mm long; its stems with only 3-6 internodes (below the inflorescence); its lower cauline leaves often oblanceolate or obovate (Terrell 1996); its lance-linear sepals only ca. 2-3 mm long; and its early flowering, during April-May in Ky. (B). Plants with unusually glabrate or short-haired basal leaves have been collected from NELS (KY), ROCK (MICH), s. Ohio (GH) and se. Mo. (Thomas 2017). Unusually pubescent plants from sw. Va., in "The Cedars" area of Lee Co., have been named H. setiscaphia L.G. Carr (or H. canadensis var. setiscaphia (L.G. Carr) C.F. Reed). Similar pubescent plants have been found in Adams Co., Ohio (GH), and should be searched for in Ky. (Braun 1976). Such pubescent plants have not been segregated by Terrell (1996) or other authors in recent treatments.