This unusual conservative rhizomatous herb of mesic woods is concentrated in parts of the southern Interior Low Plateaus and Cumberland Plateau, but with curious extensions and disjunctions in some adjacent regions (K,). It is sometimes described as a prostrate "subshrub" but in Ky. there is no overwintering live material above ground. Though found close to old dwellings, the few disjunct populations along the Kentucky River Palisades appear to be native; Short (1828-9) noted Pachysandra in FAYE. D. Dourson (pers. comm.) has found the species in WOLF (around mouth of Chimney Top Creek), the most northern Appalachian record. Further discoveries may be expected to in n. Ky., since it is known from a few sites in s. Ind. (Indiana Dept. of Natural Resources database). However, the one known population in e. Mo. may have been introduced (Y).