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. 87. 



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. 



