Perennial 1-2 m; stem glabrous and glaucous, branched above; lower lvs deeply pinnately lobed, with entire or toothed, widely divergent lobes and broad sinuses; upper lvs less deeply lobed, the bracteal ones narrowly lanceolate, entire or serrulate; pedicels stout, abruptly upcurved, 4-10 mm at anthesis; cal glabrous; cor 3.5-5 cm; fr glabrous, ovoid, 12-20 mm; 2n=24. Dry upland woods; Me. to Mich. and Wis., s. to Fla. and La. July-Sept. (Gerardia virginica, misapplied) Midwestern plants tend to have much longer cal-lobes (5-14 mm, as opposed to 2-5 mm) than plants of the e. and n. states, and have been segregated as var. macrantha Pennell.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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Infrequent to frequent in the lake area, less frequent in the unglaciated area, and probably local or absent in the intervening area. It prefers very sandy soil but is found also in clayey soil. This plant, as well as the next two [Aureolaria virginica, A. grandiflora], are supposed to be parasitic on the roots of species of the white oak group of oaks and are found on slopes and ridges wooded with these oaks.

This variety is rare in the northern part of the state, becoming somewhat frequent in the southern part in the unglaciated area. This variety, like the [full] species, grows on white oak and chestnut oak slopes and ridges.