[4]: 63 It can be found in areas with dry soil from Texas northward to North Dakota and as far west as Washington State.

[5] It has spread or been introduced to areas adjacent to its natural range, which was primarily east of the Rocky Mountains in the shortgrass and mixed grass prairies.

Each flower has 4-6 very thin translucent white petals that flutter in the wind and a dense center cluster of yellow stamens.

Occasionally, with adequate moisture, a plant will form new buds underground and sprout again.

It was again described as a subspecies in 1909 by Friedrich Karl Georg Fedde as Argemone intermedia var.

[2] It was finally recognized as a separate species from Argemone intermedia in 1958 in a paper published by the botanist Francis Marion Ownbey.