Krameria lappacea (Dombey) Burdet

  • Authority

    Simpson, Beryl B. 1989. Krameriaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 49: 1-108. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Krameriaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Krameria lappacea (Dombey) Burdet

  • Type

    Type. Perú. Huánuco (Junín): Tarma, Dombey s.n. [lectotype, MA, designated in Burdet & Simpson, 1983; isotype, P (labeled Landia and herb. Dombey)].

  • Synonyms

    Landia lappacea Dombey, Krameria triandra Ruiz & Pav., Krameria pentapetala Ruiz & Pav., Krameria linearis Poir., Krameria canescens A.Gray, Krameria triandra var. humboldtiana Chodat, Krameria iluca F.Phil.

  • Description

    Species Description - Upright or mat forming shrubs 0.3-1 m tall; young branches dull green, striate in dry condition, strigose or sericeous with the vestiture especially dense on branch tips; old branches black, often gnarled. Leaves simple, entire, oblanceolate, ovate, or obovate, 6-15(-23) mm long, 2-6(-8) mm wide, mucronate with a red-black apicule up to 0.5 mm long, sessile, abruptly cuneate basally, sparsely strigose to densely sericeous on both surfaces with the whitish or golden-colored trichomes occasionally so dense as to form a notable marginal fringe. Flowers borne in sparse, latero-terminal racemes; flowering stalks strigose or sericeous, 7-12 mm long with peduncle and pedicel separated by a pair of leafy bractlets 49 mm long and 1-2 mm wide; entire flowering stalk abscising if a flower aborts; buds ovate in outline; sepals 4(-5), spreading or slightly connivent, lanceolate with entire margins, deep red-purple, sericeous on the dorsal surfaces; uppermost sepal 7-13 mm long, (3)4-6 mm wide; lowermost sepal 9-15 mm long, 4-8 mm wide, slightly saccate; lateral sepals narrower than the upper and lower; glandular petals cuneate to orbicular, 3-5 mm wide, red-purple, with irregularly circular blisters covering the dorsal faces; petaloid petals 2(-3), free, spatulate to clawed, 5.0-8.0 (-12.5) mm long, 1.5-2.0 mm wide, deep red with green markings at base of blade; stamens 3(-4) in two series with the single, shorter stamen, 3-6 mm long and the longer pair 4.5-7.0 mm; filaments incurved, pink; pollen grains 2629 pm in diam., tricolporate; ovaries ovoid, 34 mm long, densely sericeous, bearing stout, thick, nude styles 3-4 mm long. Fruits ovoid, 5-8 mm in diam. excluding spines, densely villous and bearing numerous, scattered spines; individual spines red-black, (1.7-)2.0-4.0 mm long, (0.10-)0.15-0.35 mm in basal diam., bearing recurved, amber-colored barbs to 1 mm long near the tip and in the distal portion of the shaft and long, unicellular trichomes around the basal portions. Chromosome number, n = 6, B. L. Turner [unpubl., voucher Dillon & Turner 1552 (TEX)].

  • Discussion

    The roots are used to make a decoction that is a powerful agent for stanching blood flow and a good astringent. The roots are also used to brush the teeth and hence the plant is known by the Spanish as “raiz de dientes” (Ruíz & Pavón in Dahlgren, 1940: 61). The Chincheros of Perú use the roots for a red dye. The roots are also sold in the markets to bring on menstrual bleeding [fide King et al. 242 (NY)]. In Cuzco, Perú, the root cortex is known to contain a powerful astringent [fide Holt 219 (K)]. Other reported uses are for combating diarrhea and treating mouth ulcers. Plants are used by people in the pre-Altiplano elevations of the Andes as animal forage and for human medicines. An infusion of the roots is used to warm the body and for kidney problems (Aldunate et al., 1983) and to prepare a tea-colored dye.

    Because of its medicinal use by native Andean peoples and later by Europeans, Krameria lap-pacea (under the name of K. triandra) is the best known of any species of the genus. Other species have been used locally (see USES), but K. lap-pacea constitutes the true “rhatany” of commerce. The species was mentioned in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia until 1905. It is still used today in products made specifically for health food stores. There has, however, been some suggestion that decoctions of the roots taken internally promote cancer of the larynx (Morton, 1968), but other studies would suggest that oral ingestion of Krameria decoctions play a comparatively small role in such cases (Martínez, 1969; O’Gara et al., 1971).

    Included within Krameria lappacea are several synonyms that merit discussion. Some have been recognized as synonyms for many years, but others have baffled botanists for a variety of reasons. The epithet K. canescens is an example of the former. This name was proposed for a species by Willdenow (published by Schultes, 1827) but it was early realized by most botanists that this species was a synonym of K. lappacea. More difficulty exists with the species described as K. pentapetala by Ruiz and Pavon at the same time as K. triandra. Krameria pentapetala was described as having five “petals” (=sepals). K. lappacea is supposed to have four sepals. In addition, the poor illustration of the species indicated that the three petaloid petals were fused. The two petaloid petals of K. lappacea are free. In the Flora of Peru, Hartmann (1943, apparently following the suggestion of Britton, 1930) proposed that K. pentapetala was a Mexican species. She stated that Province Panatahuara (sic), listed as the type locality for the species is not a Peruvian locality and went so far as to suggest that the species was actually the same as the Mexican K. pauciflora DC. Since some Ruíz and Pavon collections have been confused with Sesse and Mocino collections from Mexico, this suggestion was not improbable. However, there is a specimen at Geneva with “stamens four” (which would be correlated with the five petals-unfortunately the specimen does not have flowers) written on the label and the note ad Panatahuarum Provinciam on it. Upon examining the details of Ruíz and Pavón’s trip (Dahlgren, 1940) one finds, in contradiction to Hartmann’s statement, that at the time of these travels, Panatahuas was a neighboring province of Huanuco. Despite the fact that the Geneva specimen does not have flowers, I have designated it the lectotype of K. pentapetala.

    The populations names Krameria iluca by Philippi represent a more serious problem. Geographically, K. lappacea seems confined to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. However, Philippi described a taxon with four sepals, three stamens, and two upper petals from northernmost Chile that has continued to confuse botanists. Most of the Philippi specimens have no flowers and the leaves and fruits are different from those of populations in Argentina in that they have smaller, more ovate leaves than the Argentine plants and fruit spines that are short and exceedingly pubescent. While it is possible that these populations represent the northernmost extension of K. cistoidea, they agree in most of their characters with K. lappacea.

    The last, and most novel twist in the nomenclature of the species that was known for almost 200 years scientifically and commercially as Krameria triandra, was the finding by Burdet (Bur-det & Simpson, 1983) of an article by Dombey (see above) published in the Journal des Sqavans. It had for many years been assumed that Dombey died without having described any of the many plants he collected. The obscure article in the Journal des Sqavans showed that this presumption was not completely true. Dombey transmitted in a letter to his friend Lalande, the description of a species of medicinal value that he had collected in Peru. He named it Landia lappacea in honor of Lalande who had served as professor of astronomy at the Royal Colleges of the Royal Academies of Sciences of Paris, London, and Petersburg. Lalande, who was also the editor of the Journal des Sqavans, published Dombey’s letter, but the obscure note appears not to have been noticed. Even Ruíz and Pavon seemed ignorant of the published description, because a few years later they described K. triandra and included within it Dombey’s specimen at Madrid complete with Dombey’s handwritten description pinned to it. Ruíz and Pavon simply crossed out Dombey’s annotation of Landia lappacea and reannotated it with their own name. Since a specimen other than Dombey’s has been chosen as the lectotype of K. triandra, and because it appears that RuGz and Pavon were truly unaware of the publication of Dombey’s name, K. triandra seems best considered simply as a synonym of K. lappacea rather than as an illegitimate, substitute name.

    In several herbaria there are copies of photos of two specimens from the Berlin herbarium that are labeled “Types of the Berlin Herbarium.” One of these (negative number 1631) is Weberbauer 5886, annotated as K. weberbaueri Ulbrich, and the other (negative number 1629) is Weberbauer 5748, labeled as K. suaveolens Ulbrich. Both of these specimens (now lost) belonged within Krameria lappacea. It is unfortunate that these specimens were photographed and duplicate prints distributed as representing types because neither name was ever published.

    Distribution and Ecology: Primarily central Andean in arid, rocky habitats at elevations ranging from 600 to 3600 m, but also at low elevations on the lomas of coastal Peru. In Ecuador, the species has been collected only in Azuay. In Peru the species occurs in all the Andean states as well as in Amazonas. Collections from Bolivia are few and scattered. In Argentina, the species has been collected in Jujuy, Salta, and Catamarca, but we have been able to find it only in Jujuy. Flowering and fruiting appears to occur principally in January and July but flowering plants have been collected from January to November with no apparent latitudinal pattern.

  • Common Names

    antacushma, chinchamali, mapato, malapato, pachalloke, pumakachu, pumachucu, ractania, ratana, ratanhia, Sanyo, mapato, pacha-lloqque, pumacuchu, chaka-chaka, chape chape, iluca, ticara

  • Distribution

    Ecuador South America| Azuay Ecuador South America| Peru South America| Amazonas Peru South America| Ancash Peru South America| Apurímac Peru South America| Arequipa Peru South America| Ayacucho Peru South America| Cajamarca Peru South America| Cusco Peru South America| Huancavelica Peru South America| Huánuco Peru South America| Junín Peru South America| La Libertad Peru South America| Moquegua Peru South America| Bolivia South America| Cochabamba Bolivia South America| La Paz Bolivia South America| Potosí Bolivia South America| Chile South America| Atacama Chile South America| Antofagasta Chile South America| Tarapaca Chile South America| Argentina South America| Catamarca Argentina South America| Jujuy Argentina South America| Salta Argentina South America|