This is widely scattered over southeastern states but generally restricted to mesic or submesic woods, especially on sandy soils and perhaps never on calcareous soils. C. luteum is largely dioecious; no other native liliaceous plants in North America are known to have a dioecious tendency, except perhaps Amianthium (FNA 26). It is the only species generally recognized in the genus, which is allied with the East Asian genus, Chionigraphis; 2n = 24 (APG, W and citations). A coll. from WOLF (KY) has been annotated var. obovale by E.W. Chester, which needs further assessment (W).