Range ratany, also called purple heather because of its purple 

 flowers, and heart-nut on account of its somewhat heart-shaped fruits 

 is a low, bushy, diffusely branched shrub, 1 to 2 feet high. When this 

 shrub is abundant its bluish green twigs and foliage transmit a dull 

 bluish tint to the landscape, a coloration characteristic of much of the 

 southwestern low, desert-shrub range land. The generic name honors 

 J. G. H. Kramer, an eighteenth century botanist, who was also a 

 physician in the Austrian Army. The specific name glandulosa refers 

 to the densely glandular character of the flower stalks and parts of 

 the flower. The genus derives its common name from rhatany, the 

 powerfully astringent root of Krameria triandra, of Peru, used in 

 medicine as an astringent and tonic and also for coloring port wine. 



This shrub ranges from western Texas to southern Utah, southern 

 California and south into Mexico, being common at altitudes of from 

 2,000 to 4,500 feet, or higher, and growing on dry, hot foothills and 

 mesas. It occurs on clayey, sandy, or rocky sites, but is most charac- 

 teristic of gravelly soils. Catclaw, f alse-mesquite, Wright buckwheat- 

 brush, galleta grass, and grama grasses are the common associates of 

 range ratany. This plant also grows to some extent in the blackbrush 

 (Coleogyne) associations of the Southwest, including southern Utah 

 and southern Nevada. It usually occurs as scattered individuals, but 

 is fairly abundant on many ranges and occasionally forms nearly pure 

 stands on localized areas. 



Range ratany is an important constituent of the forage supply on 

 many of the lower southwestern ranges. It ranks from fair to fairly 

 good in palatability for cattle and sheep and, on the average, from 

 25 to 50 percent of its foliage and current growth of stems are utilized 

 on conservatively grazed range, depending upon the association in 

 which it occurs. During dry years it is ordinarily cropped closely and 

 is a good emergency forage. Goats browse it freely. Normally, the 

 new growth is readily available to browsing animals but, under con- 

 tinued close cropping, the shrubs become slightly hedgy with spine- 

 like twigs and thus protect themselves in some degree from excessive 

 use. During favorable years it grows and flowers readily in the 

 spring and again in late summer. The delicately spiny fruit matures 

 rapidly and is disseminated readily by grazing animals, a fact which 

 no doubt aids materially in spreading and maintaining this species. 



The rather handsome, purplish, and attractively sweet-scented 

 flowers suggest the possibility of using this shrub as an ornamental. 

 The easily identifiable flowers and spiny, burlike fruit readily dis- 

 tinguish this shrub from other plants. Range ratany can be dis- 

 tinguished from other species of Krameria by the conspicuous stipitate 

 glands on its flower stalks, outer flower parts, and occasionally on 

 the leaves. The leaves are tipped by a fine, sharp point which soon 

 drops off. The spines on the fruit of littleleaf ratany (K. parvifolia) 

 are barbed throughout their entire length. White ratany (K. grayi, 

 syn. K. canescens A. Gray (1852) not K. canescens Willd. (1825) ) , has 

 the spines on the fruit barbed only at the tips. These two species, 

 although not so widespread and abundant as range ratany, are rel- 

 ished by all classes of livestock. 



