Pallenis spinosa

Annual or biennial of the Asteraceae family, Pallenis spinosa is widespread throughout the Mediterranean basin, from the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco to the Near East and western Central Asia. In France, it is present in the Mediterranean coastal departments and in Corsica.

It colonizes dry, sandy or stony grounds, wastelands, roadsides, open garrigues, and very well-drained poor substrates, always in full exposure. It withstands particularly harsh soils, often calcareous or sandy, where competing vegetation becomes scarce.

The plant forms small, sprawling to slightly erect tufts, densely branched, 10 to 30 cm in height. The entire plant is covered with a fairly dense whitish indumentum, giving the foliage a characteristic gray-green hue. The leaves are narrowly lanceolate to oblong, sessile, with margins often slightly wavy.

The flower heads are small, bright yellow, with short ligulate flowers surrounding a darker central disc, and borne in the axil of rigid involucral bracts, narrowly lanceolate and ending in a spiny point — it is this spinescent characteristic, very clear at maturity, that gives the species its name and allows it to be immediately recognized. In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from April to July depending on latitude and altitude.

In cultivation, it requires a perfectly drained, dry to very dry, poor soil, in sunny exposure. It does not tolerate stagnant moisture, especially in winter, and is suitable for Mediterranean-style dry gardens, sloping rockeries, and plantings between slabs or gravel. Its hardiness is limited; it does not withstand the cold and wet winters of continental regions.