Clusters of eye-catching bright-pink, star-shaped flowers cover the stem tips of this moisture-loving flower. Note the 7–16-inch tall stems with loose branching, the yellow anthers twisted like corkscrews, and the basal rosette of leaves.

FLOWER: March–November. Open clusters of 3/4-inch wide (2 cm), bright-pink flowers with a white to yellow throat; 5 elliptic, pointed petals, each 3/8-inch long (1 cm); fruit a cylindrical capsule with numerous tiny, dark seeds.

LEAVES: Basal rosette present at flowering; leaves opposite on stem. Blades oblong to lance-shaped 3/4–2 3/4 inch long (2–7 cm), smaller up the stem; margins entire to slightly rolled inward.

HABITAT: Moist sandy, silty soils, streams, wetlands, drainages, wet meadows; pinyon-juniper, mixed confer forests.

ELEVATION: 4,600–8,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Buckley’s Centaury, Z. calycosa, in so. 1/2 NM and into TX, has a single, much-branched stem 2–8 inches tall (5-20 cm), and no basal leaves when flowering. Some sources lump Z. arizonica into Z. calycosa. Desert Centaury, Z. exaulta, uncommon along the NM western border, has small, pale-pink petals to 1/4-inch long (5 mm). Gypsum Centaury, Z. maryanna, occurs in gypsum soils, especially around White Sands National Monument.

NM COUNTIES: Northern and central counties, and the southern 1/2 of NM in mid-elevation, moist habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, Colfax, De Baca, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Harding, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos.