Moist to wet ground on shores (sandy or mucky), mudflats, mucky bottomland, depressions in forests, sedge meadows, fens and bogs, cedar swamps, streamsides, ponds, ditches, and marshes; often growing in abundance with other species of Bidens and species of Cyperus on recently exposed shores.

Distinctive in having the heads turning to face sideways as they mature, rather than upfacing. Depauperate plants flowering when as small as a few centimeters tall are often frequent in this species (though they occur also in some others), and look quite different from well grown plants at first glance.