This widespread midwestern species can be confused with canadensis, and it may have been often overlooked. C. ramosissima differs in its smaller heads, 0.7-1 mm wide (versus 1-5 mm), and its low branched spreading habit, usually less than 25 cm tall (versus over 30 cm). The only verified occurrences in Ky. come from B (CINC, US); reported colls. of Harvill (1941) and Cranfill (1991) are burned or mislaid. The species is rare elsewhere in the Ohio Valley: there are only a few colls. from s. Ind. (D; M. Homoya, pers. comm.), s. Ohio (D. Boone, pers. comm.), and nw. Tenn. (Ch; D. Estes, pers. comm.). Most colls. date from before 1950. It was not mapped in Ky. or Tenn. by FNA 20.