[3] This plant is a perennial herb with erect stems growing up to 1.5 meters tall.

[6] The Pawnee people referred to the plant as rabbit foot (parus-asu) on account of the shape of its fruits and made a tea from the dry stems and leaves when coffee was not available.

[9] This plant may suffer from the rust pathogen Uromyces lespedezae-procaumbentis and the tar spot fungus Phyllachora lespedezae, as well as herbivory by the insect Pachyschelus laevigatus.

[9] In the wild this plant grows in wooded areas, on prairies, and in disturbed habitat such as roadsides.

[4] It hosts numerous lepidoptera species, such as the eastern tailed blue, gray hairstreak, hoary edge, northern cloudywing, orange sulphur, silver-spotted skipper, southern cloudywing, and spring azure.