Flowers: calyx tube ovoid, 10-20 × 8-10 mm; lobes erect, 2-4 × 2-4 mm. 2 n = 26.

Flowering late winter-spring (Mar-Jun). Upland deciduous and mixed deciduous-conifer forests; often associated with shrubby Ericaceae in n part of range; 300-800 m; Ala., Ga., Ky., N.C., Tenn., Va.