It is native to the Eastern United States, where its distribution extends along the coastal plain from Massachusetts to Florida to Texas.

The thin, smooth leaves have oval to widely lance-shaped blades with serrated margins.

It occurs in several habitat types including savanna, forest, bog, and pocosin.

It can be found growing with swamp blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica var.

biflora), loblolly bay (Gordonia lasianthus), sweetbay (Persea borbonia), red maple (Acer rubrum), titi (Cyrilla racemiflora), southern white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides), hurrahbush (Lyonia lucida), sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia), southern bayberry (Myrica cerifera), and laurelleaf greenbrier (Smilax laurifolia).