It was discovered in 2001 in several glades of the Ouachita Mountains in Saline County, Arkansas by John Pelton, a retired mechanic turned amateur photographer and naturalist.

It is known only from two locations in this county and is considered critically imperiled as a result of the presence of nearby housing developments and due to the absence of a fire regime.

Pelton's rose gentian differs from it in its smaller size, darker pink flowers with rounded corolla lobes and in growing on moister sites.

Initially unaware of his discovery, he showed the plant to Theo Witsell, a botany student who was involved with the Flora of Arkansas Project, in hopes of properly identifying it.

Within these unique micro-habitats the plant only exists in confined flat areas along the floodplains of small streams that often dry up during the hotter months of the year.