This occurs mostly on dry calcareous uplands either side of the lower Mississippi Valley, especially on the southern Interior Low Plateaus, Black Belt, and disjunct to se. Okl. and the Edwards Plateau of c. Tex. (K); it has recently been discovered in sw. Mo. (Ladd & Thomas 2015) but remains unknown in Ark.The few Ky. records are from rocky glades in south-central regions. Some colls. were initially misidentified as the western species, J. longistylis Torr. (M).