This has a broad northern and western range, with local extension down the southern Appalachians to n. Va. Records from Tenn. (Ch) and N.C. (W) are only old or obscure. It is closely related to the Eurasian species, S. galericulata L., and somestimes combined. In Ky. it has been reported based on a rather immature coll. from ROCK (KY-Agr.), 8 Jul 1915, stating "Conway, Ky." but with no collector. However, it now appears that this coll. is incana (V. Voelker, pers. comm. at NP). The plant has also been reported by Hussey (1876) from BARR or EDMO, and by Greenwell (1935) from NELS. S. epilobiifolia (along with nervosa and the parvula complex) differs from incana and allies as follows (W): flowers axillary (versus racemose to paniculate), the bracts subtending flowers resembling stem leaves in size and shape (versus much reduced, not leaf-like); stem leaves sessile or petioles < 4 mm (versus >4 mm). These are probably distinct generic sections.