Sandy plains and banks, especially jack pine, oak, and aspen savannas and forests; does well after fire.

Rarely the base of the stem has some scattered long ± straight hairs, though these are less dense than in H. gronovii and H. longipilum. Occasionally a plant will lack the conspicuous and distinctive reddish purple borders on the leaf veins, and a very few plants have the bristly hairs around the margin of the leaves sparse or lacking. The heads are fewer-flowered (not over 25) than in many species. The inflorescence at maturity is very broadly paniculate, with ± divaricate branching. See also comments under H. gronovii, which may have basal leaves of similar shape (although usually not all leaves are basal).

A collection from Schoolcraft County may be a hybrid with Hieracium scabrum.