Krameria grayi – White Ratany

Krameria grayi - White Ratany (flowers)

Krameria grayi - White Ratany (seedpods)

Krameria grayi - White Ratany

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Krameria grayi

Common Name: White Ratany

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial, Deciduous

Growth Habit: Shrub, Subshrub, Hemiparasite

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert

Flower Color: Brilliant magenta pink

Flowering Season: Spring, Summer, Fall. The main bloom period is in the springtime.

Height: To 2 feet (61 cm) tall

Description: The flowers are 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) across and have 5 tiny petals and 5 reflexed, petal-like, point-tipped, magenta sepals. The nutlike fruits are ball-shaped and covered in fuzzy, usually pinkish hair and red-brown spines with barbed tips. The sparse, inconspicuous leaves are small, simple, narrow, alternate, grayish green, and covered in white hair. The numerous stems are slender, well-branched, and densely covered in fuzzy, white hair, giving the plants a smoky white appearance. The plants are partial root parasites of nearby plants.

The similar Littleleaf Ratany (Krameria erecta) can be found in upland areas and has flowers with a cupped bottom sepal, while Trailing Krameria (Krameria lanceolata) has long, trailing stems and conspicuous, green leaves.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Polygalales
Family: Krameriaceae – Krameria family
Genus: Krameria L. – ratany
Species: Krameria grayi Rose & Painter – white ratany

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map