Krameria bicolor is a perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

 shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 or subshrub

Subshrub

A subshrub or dwarf shrub is a short woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a similar term.It is distinguished from a shrub by its ground-hugging stems and lower height, with overwintering perennial woody growth typically less than 10–20 cm tall, or by being only weakly woody and/or persisting...

 of the family Krameriaceae, the Rhatanies

Rhatany

Krameria is the only genus in the Krameriaceae family, of which any of the approximately 17 species are commonly known as Rhatany, ratany or rattany...

. It is commonly known as white rhatany, crimson-beak, and chacate in Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 (cosahui in the state of Sonora

Sonora

Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....

). It is found in drier environments of the southwestern United States

Southwestern United States

The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...

 from California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 to Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, and in northern Mexico.

It is a low lying, densely branched shrub, commonly up to 2 foot (0.6096 m), but exceptionally to beyond 5 feet (2 m). The branches are spiny in form but not sharp nor firm at the tips. The leaves are grey-green to greenish, finely-haired, narrow and only one half to three quarters of an inch long.

The color of the plant and branches is grayish-green to gray, or whitish-gray, to dull browns or tinged with red. The flowers are often sparse and sometimes inconspicuous, but plants in some locales can bloom prolifically in red flowers.

The shrub is adapted to dry, desert environments, but it can take advantage of high soil moisture. The plant is partially parasitic

Parasitic plant

A parasitic plant is one that derives some or all of its sustenance from another plant. About 4,100 species in approximately 19 families of flowering plants are known. Parasitic plants have a modified root, the haustorium, that penetrates the host plant and connects to the xylem, phloem, or...

, for example on creosote bush, Larrea tridentata.