A European native, found as a weed of railroads, roadsides, gravel pits, sidewalk cracks, lawns, and disturbed places. First collected in Michigan in Kent Co. in 1895, but only quite recently becoming frequent in sandy or gravelly disturbed ground, especially in the northern Lower Peninsula.

Normally a slender annual with basal rosette, but sometimes close to D. tenuifolia in habit. The stem extends at an angle from the ground, rather than being strictly erect. The stems are sparsely retrorsely hairy to the inflorescence, while in D. tenuifolia, the stems are glabrous except sometimes near the base.