Palafoxia Genus

Palafoxia is a genus of about ten species of annual flowering herbs native to North America, placed in the Bahia tribe of the family Asteraceae (the sunflower family). The plants are slender and erect, typically reaching 30–60 cm in height, with sparse, alternately arranged lanceolate leaves and stems that branch in the lower half and become glandular and hairy toward the upper portions. Flower heads appear at the tips of upper branches; the ray florets are reddish to pink with three narrow lobes. The fruits are narrow, seed-like achenes bearing a pappus of several pointed scales — a character that gives Palafoxia arida its common name "Spanish needles." Plants self-sow freely.

The genus ranges across the southern and southwestern United States and northern Mexico, growing on sandy plains, coastal dunes, desert flats (including the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts), and open rangeland. Most species are drought-tolerant annuals adapted to poor, sandy soils. Palafoxia callosa has become naturalized in Hawaii. Ecologically, the genus supports pollinators including bees and butterflies, and the moth Schinia niveicosta feeds exclusively on P. linearis as its larval host plant.

The genus name honors José de Palafox y Melzi, Duke of Saragossa (1776–1847), a Spanish military hero of the Peninsular War against Napoleonic France.