THE KANSAS UNIVERSITY 
SCENE Re URE Ry, 
VOL. VI, No. 3 | JANUARY, 1 Ey D WHOLE SERIES 
Vou. XVI, No. 3 
KRAMERIA CANESCENS GRAY. 
BY CHARLES M. STERLING. 
(Plates 15-22.) 
RAMERIA CANESCENS inhabits the arid regions of 
southwestern North America. It occurs on the mesa 
and low hills as scattered individuals; rarely are several 
of them growing together in groups. The species was re- 
ported by Doctor Merriam, in his account of the Death Valley 
expedition, as common in the dry parts of the valleys of the 
Muddy and Virgin rivers in southern Nevada. Dr. J. M. 
Coulter speaks of it, in his Manual of Phanerogams and 
Pteridophytes of Western Texas, as common in southern and 
western Texas; and it is said to be particularly abundant along 
the Rio Grande, where the natives use an infusion of the bark 
of the roots to dye leather brownish red. 
Part of the material for this investigation was collected on 
Tumamoc Hill, Tucson, Ariz., in July, 1908, by Mr. L. M. 
Peace; and in October, 1909, The Desert Botanical Labora- 
tory, through the kindness of Doctor MacDougal, furnished 
additional material for the study of the roots. 
The irregular flowers of Krameria have made its classifica- 
tion somewhat uncertain. It has often been included in the 
Polygale, but its close relationship to Cassia indicates that 
it should be included in the Leguminosz or Czesalpinaceze. 
Chodat has placed it in a separate family, the Krameriaceex, 
which includes but the single genus Krameria, embracing 
thirteen species, growing in the warmer parts of North Amer- 
ica, and in South America as far south as Chile. 
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