This is an uncommon native rhizomatous perennial of thin woods on fertile alluvial soil in midwestern states, and locally eastward to Mass., Pa., Tenn. and n. Ga (K). It was collected in 1996 by R. Gelis (BEREA, EKY) from Manchester Island, in the Ohio River (LEWI); see also Abbott et al. (2001). There are no other records from Ky. but the species is known from s. W.Va., s. Ohio and s. Ind within 50 miles of the state line. D. Boone (pers. comm.) has seen it along the Little Miami Rv. in Clermont Co., Ohio. S. nivea is related to the European species, S. vulgaris, but tetraploid (2n = 48 versus 24) like almost all other native species of Silene in eastern states.