Stems 3–16-inches tall are topped with single to tight clusters of blue, goblet-shaped flowers. Note the tubular flowers have a white throat with greenish-purple spots extending into the blue.

FLOWER: July–September. Flowers are 1 1/4–1 5/8-inches long (3–4 cm) with a rounded base and 5 spreading petal lobes with pointed to rounded tips; petals are united with fused sepals with pointed tips shorter than the petals; leaf-like bracts surround each flower. Closed flowers open fully in sun.

LEAVES: Opposite. Blades lance-shaped to oval, pointed, 5/8–3/4-inches long (1.5–4.5 cm), often angling toward the stem.

HABITAT: Moist sandy, gravelly soils, mountain clear cuts, meadows, stream banks, open areas; ponderosa-aspen and spruce fir forests, subalpine and alpine meadows,

ELEVATION: 8,450–12,050 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM, UT, WY.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Pleated Gentian, G. affinis, in much the same range and habitat, has flowers that bloom from the leaf axils in a spike-like cluster and never spread open fully.

NM COUNTIES: Northern NM mountains in high-elevation, moist habitats: Colfax, Harding, Mora, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Sandoval, Taos.