Biennial beeblossom is native to eastern and central North America, extending north into Ontario and Québec. In the United States, it occurs from the Northeast and Mid‑Atlantic through the Midwest and into the South, including Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. It grows in a wide range of open and lightly shaded habitats such as open woods, stream banks, thickets, disturbed areas, fields, and roadsides. 

This biennial plant typically reaches 3 to 6 feet in height and produces its white-to-pink flowers from early July to September and may continue into early October.

The flowers form in elongated clusters at the tips of the branches. They open white and typically age to pink. Each flower is about ½ inch long and ½ inch wide, with four fan‑shaped petals arranged toward the upper side of the blossom.

The center of the flower holds eight white stamens, longer than the petals. Their reddish‑brown anthers spread outward in a fan-like arrangement, set at a noticeable angle to the petals. The style is slender and longer than the stamens, ending in a pale, four‑parted stigma.

At the base of the flower is a tubular calyx covered in short hairs. Its four narrow, oblong sepals are about as long as the petals and longer than the floral tube; they bend sharply downward, with their margins tightly rolled inward. The sepals are often reddish‑green.

Below the calyx sits the ovary, similar in appearance to the stalk-like floral tube. It is about as long as the tube, slightly swollen at mid-length, and marked by distinct ribbing, with a covering of short hairs.

In its first year, the plant forms a flat basal rosette of leaves. In the second year, a tall flowering stem develops, with the leaves arranged alternately along it. The upper stem leaves are simple, narrowly lance‑elliptic, and taper to both a narrow base and a narrow tip. They measure 2 to 4½ inches long and up to ½ inch wide. These upper leaves are stalkless, with widely spaced, shallow, gland‑tipped teeth along the margins, which are often wavy when young. The surfaces are hairy—especially along the midvein—though the upper leaves are otherwise nearly smooth.

Multiple stems arise from the base, erect to ascending, and branching above. They may be angled or round in cross‑section and are hairy on the lower portions of the plant, with glandular hairs concentrated near the flower spikes. As the plant matures, the stems and leaves often take on a reddish tint.

The fruit is the developing ovary, which matures into a four‑sided, diamond‑shaped capsule. Each angle carries a distinct rib, and the capsule narrows to a small cone‑shaped tip. It measures ¼ to ⅓ inch long.

Biennial beeblossomis pollinated by bees, moths, and butterflies. Its seeds are eaten and dispersed by birds, and they can also be carried by the wind, which helps the plant spread into open or disturbed habitats.