KRAMERIACEJE. 



kernel ovate, white. — The bark of the root when fresh pounded and 

 moulded into balls, or the dry bark is detergent ; it readily froths 

 when agitated in water, and is used by the Peruvians as a substitute 

 for soap ; the silversmiths of Huanuco employ it for cleansing and 

 polishing wrought silver. Antidysenteric ; used with great success in 

 the cure of dysenteries and irritating diarrhoeas in Peru, where it is 

 preferred to Quassia. Ruiz. 



259. M. salicifolia Fl. Peruv. has the same properties. 



§ ? KRAMERIACE^. 

 Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 8 7. 



KRAMERIA. 



Sepals 4-5, irregular, coloured, spreading, deciduous. Petals 5, 

 or 4, irregular, smaller than the calyx, the 3 inner unguiculate. 

 Stamens, 1, 3, 4, hypogynous, unequal. Ovary 1 -celled, or incom- 

 pletely 2-celled; style terminal; stigma simple ; ovules in pairs, 

 suspended. Fruit between hairy and leathery, globose, covered 

 with hooked prickles, by abortion 1-seeded, indehiscent. — 

 Spreading many-stemmed undershrubs. Leaves alternate, 

 simple, entire or 3-foliolate, spreading. Racemes simple, 

 spiked. 



260. K. triandra Fl. peruv. i. t. 93. DC. prodr. i. 341. 

 N. and E. pi. med. t. 413. S. and C. ii. t. 72. — Dry gravelly 

 and sandy hills in Peru, flowering all the year round. (Ratanhy 

 root.) 



A suffruticose plant. Root horizontal, very long and branched ; 

 with a thick bark reddish brown outside, red inside. Stem procumbent, 

 much branched, taper. Branches 2-3 feet long, when young silky. 

 Leaves alternate, sessile, oblong and obovate, acuminate, entire, hoary 

 on each side. Flowers solitary, axillary, stalked. Calyx silky exter- 

 nally, smooth and shining inside, of the colour of lac. Two upper 

 petals separate, spathulate; 2 lateral roundish, concave. Drupe dry 

 hairy, burred with dull red hooks. — The extract is styptic and tonic ; 

 operates powerfully upon tumours, resolving and restoring tone to 

 those parts ; corrects and cures all kinds of ulcers when applied to 

 them in plasters. When administered internally extract of Ratanhia is 

 apt to be rejected by the stomach till 3 or 4- doses have been taken ; if 

 the stomach will not retain it the extract should be given in pills, the 

 patient immediately chewing a little lemon and drinking and gargling 

 with vinegar diluted with water. Ruiz. Commonly used in Peru as 

 tooth-powder. 



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