It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in sandy desert areas.

Tiquilia palmeri is a woody perennial herb producing a white-barked, shaggy-haired stem.

The clustered leaves have small, hairy, wrinkled blades rarely more than a centimeter long which are borne on longer petioles.

Each flower has a bell-shaped purple, lavender, or bluish corolla up to a centimeter long with a short, tubular throat.

This is the main host plant for the rare Coachella Valley grasshopper (Spaniacris deserticola).