Krameria ixine Loefl.

Authority

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

Family

Krameriaceae

Scientific Name

Krameria ixine Loefl.

Type

Type. Venezuela. Sucre: 18 km SE of Cumaná on the rd. to Cumanocoa, 22 Dec 1976, Simpson 8504 (neotype, BM; isotypes, NY, TEX, US). Löfling s material of this species was supposed to have come from Cumana, but I have been unable to find any material annotated by either Löfling or Linnaeus at BM, K, LINN, S, or SBT. Löfling s types have traditionally been difficult to locate and many of his specimens have previously been typified by neotypification. Löfling presumably used the local Indian name when he chose the epithet ixine.

Synonyms

Krameria ixine L., Krameria linifolia Willd. ex Schult. & Schult.f., Krameria cuspidata C.Presl, Krameria ishamii Millsp., Krameria ixine var. genuina Chodat, Krameria acuminata Britton

Description

Species Description - Upright, slender, branched, often weak shrubs 0.3-1.5 m tall; young stems green, usually densely strigose at the tips; old stems striate, usually green, variably strigose. Leaves simple, lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, (8-) 17-3 3 mm long including a 2-9 mm petiole, 2-10 mm wide, acute, mucronate with a red-black apicule up to 1.5 mm long, basally cuneate, strigose to tomentose on both surfaces with the midvein often prominently raised below. Flowers borne in floriferous lateral and terminal racemes; flowering stalks 35 mm long, strigose, each separated medially into peduncle and pedicel by a pair of linear bractlets 3-4 mm long and 0.5-1.0 mm wide; peduncle and bractlets remaining on the rachis if a flower aborts; buds erect, congested at the inflorescence tips, unequally ovate in outline with the expanded, ventral half appearing white because of a dense sericeous covering of white trichomes; sepals four, entire, connivent, lanceolate, strigose to sericeous on the dorsal surfaces, pink or rose fading to pale pink or white with age and then appearing dichromatic pink and white; uppermost sepal ovate, scarious along the margins, 410 mm long, 4-7 mm wide; lowermost sepal broadly lanceolate, gibbous, 4.5-10.0 mm long, 3-6 mm wide; lateral sepals narrower than the uppermost sepal; glandular petals cuneate, pink or rose-colored, 2.5-4.0 mm long, 1.5-3.0 mm wide, covered on the dorsal faces with parallel, short, vertical saccate blisters; petaloid petals clawed, narrowly oblanceolate to linear, 4.5-7.0 mm long, basally connate for 2 mm, expanding apically into irregularly ovate pink blades 1.0-1.5 mm long and 1.0-1.5 mm wide; dark pink at the tip, yellow or white medially, pink at the base; stamens four (rarely three), didynamous, inserted near the base of the connate portion of the flag petals, free beyond the point of insertion, sigmoidally curved, with the longer pair 3-5 mm, and the shorter pair 2-4 mm, composed of stout, pink filaments and pink anthers; pollen 26-35 µm in diam., triporate, with the pores expanded equatorially into pores 14-23 µm long and 2.57 µm wide. Fruits globose, 4-7 mm in diam. excluding spines, variably strigose or occasionally tomentose and bearing numerous, scattered, thin spines; individual spines red or orange, (1.6-)2.8-4.6 mm long and 0.2-0.3 mm in basal diam., bearing many small retrorse barbs 0.1-0.3 mm long along the shaft, usually in the distal half, but always subterminally, glabrous at the base. Chromosome number. Unreported.

Discussion

The Indians of Zacatecas, México use decoctions of the roots to treat “yellow diarrhea” of children (Martínez, 1959). Roots of this species under the names of Antilles rhatany, New Granada rhatany, or violet rhatany were imported into Europe during the last century where they were used like those of K. lappacea as an astringent and tonic for treatment of diarrhea, dysentery, menorrhagia, hematuria, passive hemorrhaging of the bowels and as a gargle (Bentley & Trimen, 1880). However the species was apparently never listed officially in the pharmacopoeias of Britain, the United States, or India. On Curaçao, islanders drink infusions for intestinal irritations and as a liver and kidney tonic. A strong concoction, sometimes made with additional plants (e.g., Tournefortia gnaphalodes, Boraginaceae, or Parthenium hysterophorus, Asteraceae) is used as an abortifa-cient (Morton, 1981). There has recently been some controversy about the possibility that the widespread drinking of Krameria extracts has played a role in the high incidence of throat cancer on Curaçao (Morton, 1968; O’Gara et al., 1971; Pradhan et al., 1974). Decoctions are used as an astringent and, mixed with Senna occidentalis (Fabaceae), as a medicine for hemorrhaging (Perez-Arbelaez, 1978). In the state of Falcon (Venezuela), individuals are reported to drink decoctions as a tonic for liver and kidney ailments (Morton, 1981).

Distribution and Ecology: Scattered in open grass or oak or pine savannas along the west coast of Mexico from Sinaloa to Oaxaca, in eastern Guatemala, southern Honduras, and in Guanacaste Province of Costa Rica. In the Caribbean the species has been reported on Hispaniola and south through most of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and in South America in dry, grassy areas in northeastern Colombia, northern Venezuela, and eastern Guyana. Most populations occur near sea level, but in Guatemala the species reaches elevations of 1500 m. Flowering and fruiting times vary across the range, but flowering peaks in many areas seem to occur from July to December (April to August in Colombia).

Common Names

viuxito, viuxita, cadia del perro, cadillo del perro, carretón, estancadera, pegasaja shimaron, ratanhia de Sabanilla, ratania de Sabanilla, carretón, cardillo, savanilla

Distribution

Mexico North America| Guerrero Mexico North America| Nayarit Mexico North America| Oaxaca Mexico North America| Sinaloa Mexico North America| Guatemala Central America| Chiquimula Guatemala Central America| Honduras Central America| Comayagua Honduras Central America| El Paraíso Honduras Central America| Morazán Honduras Central America| Costa Rica South America| Guanacaste Costa Rica Central America| Haiti South America| Puerto Rico South America| Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Antigua and Barbuda South America| Grenada South America| Bonaire South America| Curaçao South America| Sint Eustatius South America| Venezuela South America| Anzoátegui Venezuela South America| Barinas Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Distrito Federal Venezuela South America| Guárico Venezuela South America| Lara Venezuela South America| Sucre Venezuela South America| Colombia South America| Guajira Colombia South America| Magdalena Colombia South America| Magdalena Colombia South America| Santander Colombia South America| Guyana South America|