This is a plant of the Mediterranean climate with hot, rainless summers and wet winters. The Hooveria purpurea grows in woodland areas of Southern Monterey and San Luis Obispo California coastline. It grows on highly weathered, rocky, reddish clay soils in foothill woodland areas near the south-central San Luis Obispo County. Hooviera purpurea var. reducta, is endemic to the Santa Lucia Range of Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties. It is known from only two locations, the Army installation Fort Hunter Liggett and the National Guard post Camp Roberts. There are a total of four populations, probably totalling under 10,000 total individuals.The Nature Conservancy The habitat is grassland with patches of oak woodland. The Camatta Canyon amole, var. reducta, is known only from the La Panza Range in the center of San Luis Obispo County, about 61 kilometers away from the nearest population of purple amole. There is a single population with a variable number of individuals. The population sizes are difficult to estimate because the plants bloom infrequently and go dormant for several seasons at a time.Guretzky, J. A., et al. (2005). Life history traits of the threatened purple amole (Chlorogalum purpureum var. purpureum). US Army Corps of Engineers Report.
