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Krameria
Krameria is a genus of about 17 to 18 species of perennial, hemiparasitic shrubs from the Americas, grown mainly as wild plants rather than garden ornamentals. Its roots are the source of the traditional medicinal rhatany, and the plants photosynthesize while tapping nutrients from neighbouring plants' roots.
Krameria is the only genus in the family Krameriaceae, of which any of the approximately 17–18 species. The genus is named after the Austrian botanist Johann Georg Heinrich Kramer (1684-1744).
The species are commonly known as rhatany, ratany or rattany. Rhatany is also the name given to krameria root, a botanical remedy consisting of the dried root of para rhatany (Krameria argentea) or Peruvian rhatany (Krameria lappacea).
Krameria are found across the Americas where they grow in habitats ranging from arid deserts to subtropical savannas. They are perennial hemiparasitic shrubs that simultaneously photosynthesize and collect nutrients from the root systems of other plants. They have parasitic organs called haustoria which puncture foreign roots, forming a bulbous-shaped nutrient pathway between the two organisms.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Krameria by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
