The outer bark sometimes cracks to reveal a light-colored innerbark. The yellowwood is a rare native tree. Its range is in the Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri where it grows in rich, well-drained limestone soils on slopes, ridges and along streams. It is hardy in Iowa and other areas north of its range. It has a serious problem of producing narrow growth angles of the crotches, which often cause the tree to be subject to breakage in storms.
Yellowwoods grow in most well-drained soils and are intolerant of waterlogged soils.
They are susceptible to cankers, dieback, root rot and blight. Scale is the only pest associated with this tree. The wood is of little commercial importance because of its scarcity and the trunks are generally too short, but the medium-weight heartwood is hard and strong and used for carving gunstocks when available. The tree is named after the yellow-colored wood, and settlers chopped up and boiled the roots to make a yellow dye. Yellowwoods are graceful trees and are occasionally planted as ornamentals in parks and gardens because of their attractive flowers and foliage.