This southeastern perennial is a variable species (2n = 14, 28) that occurs mostly of the Coastal Plain, but with disjunct populations inland as far as the Cumberland Plateau. In Ky. it is restricted to a few boggy (hydroxeric) sites on acid soils. The small population at Hazel Dell Meadow (PULA) was established from planting of R. Abbott in the 1990s. It may be native at Mount Victory Seeps (PULA), according to T. Littlefield (pers. comm.).