The grass takes the form of a crowded tuft of leaves at ground level.

[4] This grass grows in many types of habitat, and it occurs in a variety of forest and grassland ecosystems.

It grows easily on poor, dry, rocky soils,[1][3][6] for which it owes its common name.

When a habitat is disturbed, after a wildfire, for example, the seeds long-buried in the soil are stimulated and germinate, making the plant a pioneer species that colonizes recently cleared land.

It is a common member of the plant community in some ecosystems that are maintained by a regime of frequent fires, such as jack pine (Pinus banksiana) barrens.