Rich deciduous forests and moist thickets, at least the leaves, if not always flowering plants, often abundant.

The stigmas are generally straight, very short, not recurved. The anthers in this species may be either yellow or rich reddish brown. Rarely the perianth is reddish brown basally. Leaves are normally strongly brown-mottled, but occasionally the mottling is pale, or even rarely absent, leaving the leaf silvery-green. Silver leaved clones, entirely lacking patterning, are rather striking and seem especially to occur along rivers, being known from the Grand and Huron River systems, but their significance is unclear.