A frequent weed of lawns, gardens, road shoulders, railroads, farmyards, dumps, vacant lots, and other disturbed places, usually sandy or gravelly; also at forest borders and clearings, along trailsides, on river banks, and fallow fields. First collected in 1920 in Livingston Co.

The upper part of the plant is typically tinted purple. Large stands, as sometimes occur in fallow fields, are striking.