Almost any kind of forests, though less often in beech-maple or oak-hickory stands than in coniferous or mixed forests; often associated with pine and hemlock, sometimes in moist ground and sometimes on hummocks and stumps in cedar or white pine-hardwood swamps. Often in sandy, somewhat acidic soils.

The commonest Goodyera in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula, and the only one in the southernmost portions. Besides having the most brightly patterned leaves, this also can forms mats by vegetative reproduction, rarely, under ideal conditions, meters in diameter, making a large colony a striking sight.