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A dwarf perennial of the Asteraceae family, Centaurea aegialophila is endemic to the shores of the eastern Mediterranean: eastern Crete, Karpathos, southern Turkey, and Cyprus, where it is relatively widespread. Its epithet, derived from Greek, literally means "friend of the shore". It grows on sandy beaches and gravelly shores, practically at sea level, from 0 to 10 meters in altitude.
It hardly exceeds 12 centimeters in height. The leaves, arranged in a basal rosette, are oval to dissected, covered with a fine whitish down that gives them a gray-green, almost silvery appearance to the touch. The stems are very short, each bearing one or two flower heads nestled at the foliage level. The pink to purple flowers, with the outer ones slightly more flared than the inner ones, form a delicate, airy pompom topped with small scales with fine tips.
In its natural habitat, flowering extends from late March to early June in Crete, and from March to August in Cyprus.
The species is not hardy in climates with cold, wet winters. It is cultivated in pots on a very mineral and well-drained substrate, in full sun, with moderate watering in summer. What is truly unfavorable to it is not so much the cold as the stagnant winter humidity, against which protection under a cold, airy shelter is recommended in our latitudes.