KRAMERIACEAB 395 



29. ALHAGIDesv. 



Spiny shrub. Leaves simple, entire, deciduous. Flowers few in racemes. Calyx 

 short-campanulate, subequally toothed. Stamens diadelphous. Banner with in- 

 curved margin. Pods linear, incompletely 2-celled, constricted between the seeds. — 

 Species 3, Mediterranean region and southern Asia. (The Mauretanian name.) 



1. A. camelorum Fisch. Camel Thorn. One to 2 feet high ; spines numerous, 

 slender, ^2 to 1 inch long; flowers lavender-red, 4 to 5 lines long. 



Naturalized from Asia and Africa : Colorado Desert; San Joaquin Valley. July. 



Immigrant note. — This species of Old World deserts was detected in California at Indio in 

 the Coachella Valley of the Colorado Desert in 1914. It is likely that seed was introduced in the 

 packings of shipments of date cuttings from Africa or in impure alfalfa seed from Turkestan. 

 At once recognized as a serious agricultural pest, attempts to exterminate it promptly have failed 

 by reason of the depth and extent of the root system and the hardness of the seed coats which 

 permits dispersal by animals through the digestive tract. It is spreading slowly and has since 

 become established in the Imperial Valley and in the San Joaquin Valley (cf . Mo. Bull. Cal. Dept. 

 Agr. 14:193-196,-1925; 19:376, 603,-1930). The following stations (up to Feb. 2, 1931) 

 have been recorded by W. S. Ball, California Department of Agriculture : Calipatria and West- 

 moreland districts, Imperial Valley (33 infestations, some of which have been eradicated) ; Mecca 

 and Indian Wells, Riverside Co. ; near Lerdo, Eosedale, Bellevue and Stevens, Kern Co. ; near 

 Eemnoy, Kings Co.; near Bowles and Conejo, Fresno Co.; near Gustine, Merced Co. 



Eefs. — Alhagi camelorum Fisch. Hort. Gorenk. ed. 2, 72 (1812), type from Asia; Jepson, 

 Man. 585 (1925). 



KRAMERIACEAB, Krameria Family 



Shrubs with alternate usually simple leaves without stipules. Peduncles 1- 

 flowered, bearing bractlets. Flowers perfect, irregular. Calyx with 4 or 5 sepals, 

 petal-like. Petals 3 or 5, small, clawed, borne on the upper side of the flower. 

 Stamens 3 to 5, all on the upper side of the flower; anther-cells opening by a ter- 

 minal tube or pore. Ovary superior, at first 2-celled, one cell anterior, the other 

 posterior, but the latter early abortive; style one, stigmatic at apex; ovules 2; ovary 

 glands 2, lateral, thick, fleshy. Fruit drj-, nearly globular, indehiscent, spiny, 

 1-seeded, the spines retrorsely barbed at apex. — Genus 1. 



Bibliog. — Rose, J. N., N. Am. species of Krameria (Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 10:107-108, — 

 1906). Britton, N. L., Krameriaceae in N. Am. Fl. 23:195-200 (1930). 



1. KRAMERIA L. 



More or less root-parasitic shrubs. Leaves (in ours) simple and entire. Flowers 

 purple. Sepals in ours 5. Stamens in ours 4, in two unequal pairs. Ovules pen- 

 dulous. — Species about 14, North and South America, mostly tropical. (J. G. H. 

 Kramer, Austrian army physician, 18th century, author of a key to the herbs, 

 shrubs and trees. ) 



Spines on fruit barbed at apex; lateral sepals lanceolate 1. K. grayi. 



Spines on fruit barbed their whole length; lateral sepals ovate 2. K. parvifolia. 



1. K. grayi Rose & Painter. White Ratany. Intricately and densely 

 branched thorny shrub 1^ to 2^ feet high; young parts tomentose; leaves lance- 

 olate or linear, acute, 2 to 5 lines long; peduncles bearing near middle one pair of 

 opposite bracts; calyx 4 to 5 lines long, lightly tomentose without, deep purple 

 within; sepals oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, acute, the upper 2 approximate, 

 erect or recurving, lateral pair upwardly curving with falcate tips, the lower one 

 spreading downward; petals red-purple with yellowish claws; style with a white- 

 pubescent zone at base; pods globose, 4 lines long, armed with many slender (2 lines 

 long) spines barbed at tip. 



Stony mesas and hillslopes, 300 to 2000 feet : IMohave and Colorado deserts. 

 East to New Mexico, south to Mexico and Lower California. May-Nov. 



