P. caespitosa persists and regrows each year from rhizomes and often spreads by stolons,[12] which can be extensive, creating a dense mat of hawkweed plants (a colony)[11] that practically eliminates other vegetation.

[8] Pilosella caespitosa prefers silt loam, well-drained soil: coarse textures, moderately low in organic matter, and moist.

Places like roadsides,[5] neglected residential and commercial landscapes, minimally maintained public parks and open spaces, vacant lots, rubble dump sites, and abandoned grasslands (meadows).

[13] Pilosella caespitosa is an introduced species in North America and can be found in Canada (British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec)[14] and the United States (Connecticut, Washington D.C., Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wyoming).

[4] Pilosella caespitosa's native range includes a large portion of Europe, including Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Former Yugoslavia.