Krameria grayi Rose & Painter

  • Authority

    Simpson, Beryl B. 1989. Krameriaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 49: 1-108. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Krameriaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Krameria grayi Rose & Painter

  • Type

    Type. United States. Texas: (Pecos County). Prairies beyond the Pecos, May-Oct 1849 (15 Aug 1849), Wright 820 (Gray s number 106) (lectotype, GH; isotypes, BM, DS, G, GH, K). Rose and Painter were forced to give this species a new name when they realized that Gray s name canescens was a later homonym of K. canescens Willd, ex Schultes. However, they retained Wright s specimen as the type of the taxon which they renamed in honor of Asa Gray.

  • Synonyms

    Krameria canescens A.Gray, Krameria bicolor S.Watson, Krameria sonorae Britton

  • Description

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    Species Description - Stiff angular, mound-forming shrubs 0.2-0.8 (-1.5) m tall; young branches canescent, rarely with scattered glandular trichomes at the apex; old stems terete, blue-green, rigid with acute spinose tips. Leaves simple, entire, usually sparse, occasionally almost completely lacking, linear, rarely linear-lanceolate, 4-20 mm long, 1-5 mm wide, sessile with abrupt bases and mucronate apices, canescent throughout. Flowers borne singly in leaf axils on canescent flowering stalks to 25 mm long, each separated medially into a peduncle and pedicel by a pair of green bractlets up to 10 mm long and 0.5-3.0 mm wide; flowering stalks entirely shed if flowers abort; flower buds elegantly and narrowly falcate, nodding; sepals five, reflexed, lanceolate, acute, purple or deep red-pink, canescent or strigose on the dorsal surfaces; uppermost sepal 7-13 mm long and 24 mm wide; lowermost sepal 9-12 mm long, 2.5-5.0 mm wide; lateral sepals narrower than the upper and lowermost sepals; glandular petals orbicular to reniform in outline, 1.5-4.5 mm long, 1.5-5.0 mm wide, deep purple, red-brown, pink or yellow, with the dorsal faces bullate and entirely covered with more or less equal-sized, round blisters; petaloid petals three, free to base, very narrowly oblanceolate, 3-6 mm long, 0.4-2.0 mm wide with the terminal expanded portion entire, minutely serrate or shallowly notched, pink or purple at the tip and green basally; stamens four, pink, didynamous with the upper pair 3.5-6.0 mm long and lower pair 5-8 mm long, inserted at the bases of the upper three petals; pollen grains 30-37 µm in diam., triporate with the pores 15-20 µm long and narrowly expanded equatorially; ovary ovoid, 3-4 mm long, tomentose, surmounted by a stout, glabrous style 3-4 mm long, red or pink. Fruits cordate to circular in outline, often with a conspicuous longitudinal median ridge, 5.5-10.0 mm in diam. excluding spines, canescent, sericeous, or strigose with white or brown trichomes and many scattered spines; individual spines (1.5-)2.5-4.5(-5.5) mm long, (0.1-)0.2-0.5 mm wide at the base, bearing a whorl of amber-colored, recurved barbs up to 1 mm long near the apex and long, unicellular trichomes along the basal portion. Chromosome number, n = 6, Turner (1958).

  • Discussion

    According to Train et al. (1941), the Shoshoni Indians used the dried and powdered roots in a wash for eye infections and the Pima Indians applied a cold infusion of the roots to swellings and on gonorrheal and eye sores. The Seri used the lateral roots, after drying, pounding, and boiling to make a red-brown dye used in their traditional basketry (Felger & Moser, 1985). The flowers are also boiled to make a tea taken for stomach aches and diarrhea. Ground, powdered stems are sprinkled on slow-healing sores to promote healing and prevent infection (Felger & Moser, 1985). The stems, with the bark removed, can be boiled into a tea that is believed will increase the redness of the blood.

    Krameria grayi is a familiar plant to individuals driving through the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts. In places, the rounded, spiny, blue-gray shrubs dominate the landscape.

    There is no doubt that Krameria grayi belongs to the same species group as K. cytisoides, and that both are related to K. paucifolia, but it is difficult to determine how and when the species diverged. Based on traditional concepts about habitat and habit, K. cytisoides would appear to be the most “primitive” species. It occurs in scrublands along the slopes of the Mexican Sierra Madre Oriental, a habitat considered by many to be more ancient than the hot deserts of the American Southwest. The habit, approaching small tree size, of K. cytisoides might also be construed to be a primitive condition. However, there is no indication that woodiness is plesiomorphic in Krameria, and K cytisoides exhibits several apomorphic characters.

    The morphological similarities between Krameria grayi and K paucifolia present additional taxonomic problems and often make identification of specimens difficult. From north to south across the populations of K. grayi in Baja California and, to a lesser extent, along the coast of Sonora and Sinaloa, the leaves of K. grayi become increasingly small (Fig. 18) and more widely spaced. The branches also become somewhat more flexible than those in northern populations. As a result, there is a convergence in the aspects of plants of K grayi toward those of K. paucifolia in south-central Baja California. Yet, characters of the vestiture, inflorescence structure, and flower bud aspect remain constant across the range of K. grayi, allowing fairly easy discrimination once the characters are appreciated. Stems of K. grayi consistently exhibit throughout the range a blue-green hue and the species has buds that are narrowly falcate and nodding. Plants of K. paucifolia are yellowish or whitish-green and have ovate, upright or laterally-oriented buds. In addition, the flowers of K. grayi are more sparsely arranged on the tips of the flowering branches than those of K. paucifolia. Figure 18 graphs the lengths of the leaves of plants of K. grayi and K paucifolia versus latitude in Baja California using the attitudes of the buds as symbols. Because of the consistency of the characters mentioned above, and the fact that populations of K grayi generally occur north of 26°N latitude in Baja California and populations of K. paucifolia south of that latitude, I have treated the two as distinct species. Originally, however, K paucifolia was described as a subspecies of K grayi and it is possible that it will eventually be returned to that rank.

    The disjunct populations of Krameria grayi in Zacatecas, Jalisco, Hidalgo, Michoacan, and Sinaloa also present problems. Populations in Zacatecas have been placed by some workers in K. bicolor because the glands of the flowers in these areas are yellow, contrasting with the deep pink sepals. However, variation in the color of the glands is common in K. grayi and in all other aspects, individuals of these populations resemble those of K. grayi from more northerly localities.

    Specimens from Sonoran populations were described as Krameria sonorae by Britton. This taxon, characterized by the slender, lax nature of its branches, was retained by Wiggins (1964) in his Flora of the Sonoran Desert. Plants in some of the populations in Sonora exhibit characters such as small flowers, “shiny” (less canescent) branches, occasional glandular trichomes on the pedicels, as well as a slender lax habit that are not found in other populations of K. grayi. The presence of these characters might reflect, in part, hybridization with K. paucifolia found nearby across the Gulf of California. Felger and Moser (1985) considered K. sonorae to be distinct from K. grayi, but because most of the characters of specimens referred to K. sonorae fall within the range of variation exhibited by K. grayi, I have considered them synonymous.

    Distribution and Ecology: Locally common in the deserts of the southwestern United States and western Mexico, usually on limestone, volcanic, or igneous-derived soils from sea level to 1400 m. In the United States, in west Texas in Val Verde, Terrell, Crane, Culberson, Hudspeth, and El Paso Counties to Pinal and Pima Counties in Arizona, and from Clark County in Nevada and San Bernardino County in California southward to the Mexican border. Reported by Martin and Hutchins (1980) as occurring in Otero County, Nvew Mexico, but I have not been able to locate any specimens. In Mexico, abundant in Coahuila and adjacent Chihuahua. Also found in Baja California, Sonora, and Sinaloa, with disjunct populations in Zacatecas, Jalisco, Michoacan, Nayarit, and Hidalgo. Flowering and fruiting occurs from March to May (June) and/or again in (July) August to October.

  • Common Names

    ratany, white ratany, Gray’s ratany, cha-caté, cósahui, dah-tohnub, nah-gee, nah-kah-rah, fajuy, guachapurillo, heepol, mamelique, mezquitillo, tajuy

  • Distribution

    United States of America North America| Arizona United States of America North America| California United States of America North America| Nevada United States of America North America| Texas United States of America North America| Mexico North America| Baja California Mexico North America| Baja California Sur Mexico North America| Chihuahua Mexico North America| Chihuahua Mexico North America| Coahuila Mexico North America| Durango Mexico North America| Hidalgo Mexico North America| Jalisco Mexico North America| Michoacán Mexico North America| Nayarit Mexico North America| San Luis Potosí Mexico North America| Sinaloa Mexico North America| Sonora Mexico North America| Zacatecas Mexico North America|