This recently described species (Medley 1989) is known only from the central Appalachian Plateaus in e. Ky., mostly along headwaters of the Kentucky Rv., and in some disjunct localities of the Ridge-and-Valley region in ne. Tenn. (Ch, W and citations). There is also a unverified 2017 report from Logan Co., W.Va., "6.25 miles WSW of Holden" (coll. at CM according to SERNEC in 2020). S. wasiotense typically occurs on lower slopes in thin woods and edges, especially along roadsides with warm sunny aspects. It prospers in adjacent woods only after fires or other disturbances. It is likely that, before settlement, trails were maintained by bison (or other large herbivores) in these valleys, partly to connect with the clusters of salt licks that occurred in the same general area as wasiotense (White & Hagar 1952, Campbell & Medley 1990). The closest relatives of wasiotense are probably S. brachiatum Gattinger and S. mohrii Small, both of which have small ranges centered on the southern Cumberland Plateau in Ala. and Tenn. Before its description, wasiotense was also referred to S. dentatum Ell. (a southeastern segregate of S. asteriscus), or to S. incisum Greene (an obscure plant known only from the type in the Ridge-and-Valley of Ga.).