[Illustration: PRAIRIE SAND-BUR]
Shrubs or perennials, leaves small; flowers irregular; sepals 4-5,
petal-like; petals 4-5, smaller than sepals; stamens 3-4, united at
base; fruit woody, armed with spines.
Prairie Sand-Bur. Linear-Leaved Krameria (_Krameria lanceolata_) is not
the sand-bur of the grass family with which all children of the South
are familiar; however, the burs are just as spiny, but are densely
covered with white hairs. The flowers and short silky leaves grow on
prostrate branches from a thick woody root. The 5 wine-red sepals may be
mistaken for the petals which are smaller than the sepals and tinged
with green, the 3 upper being united. The flowers are about an inch
broad. The plant is not conspicuous but is quite abundant in dry, rocky
soil from Kansas to Mexico, blooming from April to June.
Several shrubby kramerias grow in the southwestern part of the state.
The name is in honor of an Austrian physician, Johann Kramer. Medicinal
properties are reported for some of the species.
Chacate (_Kameria grayi_) is a densely branched shrub, 1-3 ft. high,
with purple flowers. The bark of the root is used by Mexicans in dyeing
leather a reddish-brown. It is found in the mountains of West Texas and
Mexico.