This ranges across much of eastern and central North America, but usually associated with base-rich soils; it is most common in the midwest and rare to absent on much of the southeast Coastal Plain (K, W). It usually grows in areas that are wet or damp in spring, but that dry out severely during summer to fall. S. lineatus Michx. (= S. fontinalis Harper) is a more southern species that has more pendulous inflorescences than S.pendulus and lower chromosome number (2n = 36 versus 40).These names were muddled in F and some earlier literature (FNA 23).