A species domesticated from Mexico and escaped from cultivation to disturbed ground. First collected in 1873 in Kalamazoo Co. but not collected since 1922. An ornamental form is grown under the common name of Prince’s Feather.

In this species the seeds may be a distinctive pale cream color, especially in cultivated strains, but the few Michigan collections have shiny dark reddish or almost black seeds. The leaf blades are large in A. hypochondriacus, mostly (4.5–) 8–12 (–20) cm long, acute or short-acuminate in general outline at the apex, the midrib excurrent or not as a short bristle. In the closely related A. powellii, which is sometimes distinguished with difficulty and from which this species was presumably derived, the blades tend to be smaller, the larger ones mostly 3–8 cm long with smaller ones usually present; the apex is broadly rounded in general outline and often slightly notched, the midrib excurrent as a distinct short bristle.