Banks and thickets, especially along rivers and borders of forests. Though very local in Michigan, this species is often abundant where it occurs, and can dominate substantial areas, especially along the Detroit River and near Lake Erie.

Vigorous plants from fencerows in Monroe Co. with leaves intermediate between this species and C. foemina are apparently hybrids; they have high pollen viability and fruit set. A collection (J. S. Wilson 261, MICH) from along a ditch in the same county was considered to be a hybrid with C. amomum subsp. obliqua; it has longer and narrower leaf blades than in either parent and has almost no viable pollen.

Superficially resembling a broad-leaved Cornus foemina, this species regularly achieves a larger size and can occasionally become a small tree. When growing together with Counus foemina, this flowers slightly later.