This globally rare diploid (2n = 14) herb has a fragmented range in at least five disjunct clusters from the central Appalachians to the midwestern Driftless Area and Ozark region, usually growing along limestone cliffs (F, K). It is known from s. Ind. and s. Ohio in counties adjacent to Ky. In Ky. B reported making a coll. (catalogued as #1202) from CART, "on wet sandstone cliff in Box Canyon", but the coll. has not been relocated in herbaria, and the species cannot be refound at that site. S. sullivantii has sometimes been confused with Heuchera parviflora.