Names
Scientific Name: Krameria bicolor
Synonym: Krameria grayi
Common Names: White ratany
Characteristics
Duration: Perennial, deciduous
Growth Habit: Shrub, subshrub, hemiparasite
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: desert
Flower Color: brilliant magenta pink
Flowering Season: spring (main bloom), summer, fall
Height: up to 2 feet
Description: The flowers are 1/2 inch 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.
Special Characteristics
The plants are partial root parasites of nearby plants, particularly creosote.
Classification
Order: Polygalales
Family: Krameriaceae
SOURCES:
http://www.fireflyforest.com/flowers/1358/krameria-grayi-white-ratany/
Simpson, B. B. 2013. Krameria bicolor, the correct name for Krameria grayi (Krameriaceae), Phytoneuron 2013-62:1.
