Infrequent throughout the state in wet grounds of all kinds. It is more common in the lake area in wet places about lakes, in marshes, and along streams; southward it is found in roadside ditches, ponds, sloughs, sinkholes, and springy places and along streams. This species is extremely variable throughout its range in the grouping or segregation of the spikelets, the color of the involucre and involucels, and the color of the scales of the spikelets. Some authors do not recognize these differences while others do.