Stems 1-4 dm, slender, usually repeatedly branched; lvs lance- linear to lance-ovate, 1-3 cm, softly stellate-hairy above, the longer arms to 1 mm; frs only 1 or 2 per spike, with a median vein of each side, the lepidote hairs with broad central disk and very short appressed arms. In sand, sandy soil, or rocky barrens; Conn. to e. Pa., s. and w. to Fla. and Tex., and n. in the interior to s. Ill., Mo., and se. Kans. Late summer.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
In a hard, white, minimacid, clay soil in a post and pin oak flat in Spencer County about 4 miles northwest of Chrisney. It was abundant in a 40-acre fallow field and scattered in an adjoining open woods, but was not found in the thick woods. Whether it was introduced into the fallow field and spread into the adjacent woods, or vice versa, I do not know.
