Krascheninnikovia

 Chenopodiaceae

©The World Botanical Associates Web Page
Prepared by Richard W. Spjut
December 2004, 2007

Krascheninnikovia lanata
Vizcaíno Desert, BCN
Apr 1980

Krascheninnikovia lanata
Mojave Desert, CA
Apr 1978

 

Krascheninnikovia lanata
Mojave Desert, NV
Apr 1980

Krascheninnikovia lanata
Hudspeth Co., TX
Nov 2007

Trees and Shrubs of Kern County (Sep 2012)

Krascheninnikovia lanata (Diotis lanata Pursh 1814) A. Meeuse & A. Smit 1971 [Eurotia lanata Moquin-Tandon 1840; Ceratoides lanata (Pursh) J. T. Howell 1971]. Winter fat. White wooly shrubs with simple and star-shaped hairs, most easily identified when in fruit by the elongate flowering/fruiting stems densely clothed with white silky tufts of hairs, aging reddish orange; leaves conspicuous below the flower/fruiting stems, alternate, solitary and in clusters, blade-like to sword-shaped, 8–10× longer than wide, 1.5–5 cm long, plane to strongly recurved along margins; flowering and fruiting Apr–Sep, the male and female flowers separated on the same plant or found on different plants, petals absent, sepals present in males; ovary enclosed within two fused calyx-like bracts; fruiting bracts completely enclosing the thin pericarpium that is free from seed, densely covered with silky white hairs. Widely distributed on rocky slopes, dry alkali lake margins in the western semi-arid region of North America. Winter fat scrubland recognized when dominant and  >50% cover in shrub canopy (MCV2). Type from the banks of the Missouri, in  open prairies. Kern Co.: “Occasional on the higher plains and in the desert ranges; scarce on the valley east-side (Sand Ridge, Comanche Hills); occasional in the west-side shale hills, almost common on the arid-shale slopes of the southern Temblor Range” (Twisselmann), 152–1,372 m (CCH).

            Used medicinally by Hopi, Navajo, Ramah, Paiute, Shoshoni, Tewa, Zuni: the whole plant for fevers, smallpox, sore muscles, sore eyes, boils, Datura poisoning, head and scalp tonic, to prevent graying; root applied for burns, sore eyes and as a febrifuge, disinfectant; leaves used for fevers (Moerman).