[2] It grows in diverse habitats ranging from drier savannas to temperate deciduous forests.

Sometimes the tips of the young stems root into the ground and form vegetative offsets.

[4] The plant produces a five-petaled white flower about one inch (25 mm) in diameter.

[3][4] Rubus flagellaris is native to the central and eastern United States (from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska to the Gulf and East Coasts and the Great Lakes region), eastern Canada (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia) and northern Mexico (Coahuila, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Sonora).

[2] R. flagellaris grows in a wide range of habitats including mesic to dry savannas and sandy savannas, abandoned fields, meadows in wooded areas, and woodland borders.

[2] Many animals such as raccoons, fox squirrels, eastern chipmunks, white-footed mice, and other mammals eat the northern dewberry's fruits, and aid in the dispersal of the shrub.

[2] The flowers of Rubus flagellaris, with a fragrant nectar, attract a large number of native bees.

[3] Other insects that interact with the northern dewberry to help pollinate it are Siphonopora rubi (blackberry aphid), Metallus rubi (blackberry leafminer), Agrilus ruficollis (red-necked cane borer), and Edwardsiana rosae (rose leafhopper).