Pallenis is a small genus of flowering plants in the tribe Inuleae within the family Asteraceae.

[3] This is primarily a Mediterranean genus, occurring in desert and coastal habitats of Southern Europe, North Africa, the Canary Islands and the Middle East.

The genus consists of annual or biennial herbaceous plants with white, sub-silky hairs on the soft stems, growing to a height of 20–50 cm.

The long, villous, involucral bracts end in an apical sharp-pointed spine.

The essential oil of Pallenis spinosa consists for the main part of oxygenated sesquiterpenoids.