[6] It is found in association with other plants including big bluestem (Andropogon gerardi), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), yellow Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans), side-oats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis), porcupine grass (Stipa spartea), Penn sedge (Carex pennsylvanica), copper-shouldered sedge (Carex bicknellii), sand-bracted sedge (Carex muhlenbergii), flowering spurge (Euphorbia corollata), prairie phlox (Phlox pilosa), lead plant (Amorpha canescens), rough blazing star (Liatris aspera), purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea), showy goldenrod (Solidago speciosa), grass-leaved goldenrod (S. graminifolia), prairie gentian (Gentiana puberulenta), hoary puccoon (Lithospermum canescens), blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium albidum), cream wild indigo (Baptisia leucophaea), flax-leaved aster (Ionactis linariifolius), silky aster (Symphyotrichum sericeum), pale prairie coneflower (Echinacea pallida), milkwort (Polygala polygama), prairie violet (Viola pedatifida), and bird's foot violet (Viola pedata).

[7] There are 32[1] to 36[7] occurrences of the plant remaining in widely scattered locations, and most populations are small, containing fewer than 150 individuals.

The prevention of agents of natural disturbance, such as wildfire and the grazing of wild ungulates, has allowed ecological succession to occur, turning native prairie to shrubland.

[8] The plant can tolerate an amount of disturbance, and probably requires it; it was likely adapted to a landscape regularly trampled and grazed by bison.

[7] Other threats include quarry mining, herbicides and surface runoff, mowing, and weeds.

[1] Heavy herbivory by insects and small mammals has been observed on the plants, including invasion of the pods by beetles.

[8] As the plant probably benefited from the presence of bison, researchers are putting cattle on one site to test the effects of their grazing.