This taxon is known mostly in the Blue Ridge Mountains, from Va. to S.C. It was not mapped for Ky. by FNA 3, but there are colls. here by B (US), M (WKY) and others (EKY) from the Cumberland Mountains or nearby. It is sometimes treated as A. quinquefolia var. lancifolia (Pursh) Fosberg, since there can be intergradation in zones of overlap.