Wild ginger grows in the understory of deciduous forests across eastern North America, from the Great Plains to the Atlantic coast and from southeastern Canada south to the Fall Line. Its seeds carry an oil-rich appendage that ants eat, and the ants carry the seeds up to about 36 metres from the parent. The seeds need warm and then cold periods before they germinate, and the plant spreads mostly by rhizomes.
Wild ginger holds a place in Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe knowledge as a seasoning, a ceremonial plant and a medicine, and many nations recorded its use. The roots contain aristolochic acid, so eating the plant is not recommended. It is now widely suggested as a native shade groundcover.