This occurs in scattered calcareous localities from the southern Ridge & Valley to the Ozarks, and perhaps further south (FNA 3). In Ky., it may be largely restricted to the former Big Barrens area or nearby; there are also a few records from limestone bluffs near the Cumberland Rv. in the Eastern Highland Rim (?PULA, WAYN). However, there has been confusion with glaucophylla and other species; see notes under glaucophylla. Together, both species differ from the largely Appalachian-Ozarkian viorna-flaccida group in their lower leaf surfaces, which are glaucous and glabrous or nearly so (versus not glaucous and usually with distinct pubescence); also, leaflets tend to have broader shape, the larger ones often with subcordate base (versus just broadly truncate). There does not appear to be a simple consistent difference in flowers or achenes.