Urchins were semi-sentient yellow flowers that, when touched or plucked, would writhe violently and hurl their long, purplish needles (quills) at any perceived attacker. The needles also hung from globs at the flower's roots, and if the plant was uprooted, the quill-glob would slap at an attacker like a ball on a string.
Gardulla the Hutt kept many of these hurtful meadow flowers (as she did other predatory plants and animals) in the pleasure garden of her Tatooine palace, near the Dune Sea. She took twisted delight when unwary captive beings, constrained to enter the garden for her own and others' perverse entertainment, happened upon an urchin, then stooped to pluck it from its stem (or worse, the full urchin plant). In 32 BBY, the bumbling Abyssin cyclops giant Gondry, while in pursuit of escaped slaves, was one of these unfortunate beings; after plucking an urchin handful, he yelled 'Stupid flowers!' and spent the next long while sitting cross-legged, pulling purple quills from his foot.