Palafoxia arida var. gigantea

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Palafox

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Subfamily:	Asteroideae
Tribe:	Bahieae
Subtribe:	Carduinae
Genus:	Palafoxia
Species:	P. arida var. gigantea

Binomial name

Palafoxia arida, var. gigantea
(Jones), Turner & Morris

Palafoxia arida, var. gigantea, (also =Palafoxia linearis) is a species of flowering plant from the sunflower family (Asteraceae), genus Palafoxia. It is found in the western Sonoran Desert of Arizona and northwestern Mexico, states of Sonora and Baja California, and the southern Colorado Desert of southeastern California.

The erect, slender stem grows 30–60 cm tall, branching in the lower half and is sparsely leaved. It is glandular and hairy on the upper parts. It has 2-5 inch slender leaves, looking similar to the graphic of Small Palafox, P. callosa pictured here: [1], of stem, leaves, and flowers.

In the Lower Colorado River Valley, (Yuma, Arizona region), in semi-shaded sites with annual sparse rainfall, can grow to be bushy bordering on producing 100 flowers on a single plant.

This plant is also called Spanish Needles. It can be common along some riverine environments, (Colorado River, Gila River), as well as irrigation canals.

The wind-borne seeds are dandelion-like, but larger and in a smaller quantity per flower. The plant with seed is easily identified since the seeds splay out in a flat circle until broken from the plant by strong wind. The seed is macroscopic in size, with about 10-16 seeds per circular flower-splay, each seed up to 0.6 in before the parachute.