[2] It is native to the eastern United States, particularly in the Appalachian Mountains.

Each flower has woolly green or purplish bracts and six white or yellowish tepals.

It sometimes grows alongside Appalachian bunchflower (Melanthium parviflorum), but generally at lower elevations.

At a site in the Shenandoah National Forest it was noted to grow with oak and hickory.

Associated plants include white snakeroot (Ageratina altissima), flypoison (Amianthium muscitoxicum), wild yam (Dioscorea villosa), white wood aster (Eurybia divaricata), bigleaf aster (E. macrophylla), Allegheny hawkweed (Hieracium paniculatum), widowsfrill (Silene stellata), Atlantic goldenrod (Solidago arguta), mountain decumbent goldenrod (S. caesia var.