In coughs, colds, and chronic airway obstructive conditions, epheda has always been the go to herb. The page that you are currently viewing contains information about ephedra plants taxonomy. Stevenson shrubs or vines, erect or clambering, equisetum like, dioecious very rarely monoecious. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the. Ephedra is an evolutionally isolated group and is the only genus in the order ephedrales. Ephedra is a genus of gymnosperm shrubs, the only genus in its family, ephedraceae, and order, ephedrales. In this new classification, the family ephedraceae consists of two subfamilies. Definition of family ephedraceae in the dictionary.
Green ephedra is a dioecious, scraggly shrub rarely more than 60 cm to 150 cm high. Distribution of ephedra vegetative features of ephedra anatomy of ephedra reproduction of ephedra embryogency of ephedra economic importance of. The various species of ephedra are widespread in many lands, native to southwestern north america, southern europe, northern africa, southwest and central asia, northern china and western south america in temperate climates, most ephedra species grow on shores or in sandy soils with. Ephedraceae in world checklist of selected plant families.
Bracts of seed cones almost completely free, connate only at base, light brown and. Ephedra americana ephedraceae joint fir, pincopinco. Meyer is a research ecologist at the usda forest services rocky mountain research station, shrub sciences laboratory,provo utah table 1ephedra,ephedra. This plant belongs in the order ephedrales because it s a gymnosperm shrub. It could be found in rocky mountains and deserts but thrives well in arid and semiarid climates. Pdf a new species of ephedra ephedraceae, ephedrales from. Ephedra contains the alkaloids ephedrine, pseudoephedrine isoephedrine, norpseudoephedrine cathine, norephedrine, methylephedrine, methylpseudoephedrine 8, tannins 9, and other constituents, including quinoline and 6hydroxykynurenic acid 10.
This study proposes a new systematic classification of the family at the. The board of trustees of the royal botanic gardens, kew. Genus ephedra definition of genus ephedra by the free. Ephedra chilensis pdf ephedra is a genus of gymnosperm shrubs, the only genus in its family, ephedraceae, and ephedra chilensis chile, argentina. Molecular data place empetrum and its relatives firmly within the ericaceae, and in particular within the sub family ericoideae, in agreement with phytochemical and palynological data, and there they are best recognized as a separate tribe. Ephedra fragilis is an evergreen shrub growing to 1. Species of ephedraceae contained within the plant list belong to. However, a recent study highlights that among ephedraceae family, which. Leaves are reduced to 2 small triangular teeth at joints. We do not intend the plant list to be complete for names of infraspecific rank. Data on the number of species vary from 20 to 44, broken down into 5 sections.
All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. Ephedra ephedra sinica plant profiler sigmaaldrich. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. Ephedraceae, but also g ives a concrete taxonomic conce pt to the family ephedraceae that con sists of siphonosper mum, prognetella, chengia, liaoxia, gurvanella, ephedra yang et al. Introduction ephedra is a medicinal plant belonging to the ephedraceae family. The ephedraceae family consists of species with varied growth forms, habits and habitat requirements. Pages in category ephedra fragilis this category contains only the following page. Botanically known as ephedra sinica, it is a perennial shrub that measures 4 feet high. A taxonomic genus within the family ephedraceae many asiatic shrubs, some of which have medicinal uses.
Ephedra viridis possesses brightly colored cones that are used in reproduction, placing it in this class. The plant species is properly authenticated by professor khalid sawalha, the director of biodiversity research. Pdf ethanomedicinal properties of euphorbiaceae familya. They often grow on shores or sandy places where they get a lot of sunlight. Scientific assessment of ephedra species ephedra spp. Wikipedia does not yet have an article about ephedra plant. Ephedra, genus of 65 species of gymnosperm shrubs of the family ephedraceae. The species is dioecious individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required. Ephedra species are found naturally in many places, like southwestern north america, southern europe, northern africa, southwest and central asia, northern china and western south america ephedra species often grow in the temperate zone. The terminal stems are thin, green, and essentially leafless.
Andes of south america ecuador to argentina habitat. Department of natural resources for this plants current status, such as, state noxious status and wetland indicator values. But, its use as a recreation drug should not detract from its long history of a very useful herbal medicine. Pdf the medicinal significance of ephedra is based on the. Abstract the genus ephedra of the ephedraceae family contains more than 60 species of nonflowering seed plants distributed throughout. Unfortunately, kids were abusing it for fun and games and its now hard to come by. Ephedra simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Branches generally many, terete, whorled to fascicled, finely longitudinally grooved, internodes 110 cm. Media in category ephedra fragilis the following 30 files are in this category, out of 30 total. A list of all accepted names in ephedraceae is available in csv format. Ephedra is inherent to china, pakistan and northwestern india. In the past, when a person was blocked up, ephedra.
Ephedra viridis is the most common ephedra in our area, but any one of the three. Pdf chemical composition of various ephedra species. These are primarily included because names of species rank are synonyms. However, these are a recently evolved class of plants, and the. Any of various usually shrubby gymnosperms of the genus ephedra, having jointed green stems and small scalelike leaves, some species of which are used as a source of ephedrine. The database provides information for all species and higherranked taxa of the gymnosperms, i. America california to colorado and arizona habitat.
Native to the steppes of northern china, mahuang prospers in full sun, dry soils, and is quite coldtolerant our patch bravely survived an 18 inch snow cover that occurred during a particularly cold southern oregon winter. Biogeography, chengia, early cretaceous, ephedraceae, ephedro id, evolution, female cone, gnetales, jehol biota, reduction and sterilization hypothesis, yixian formation. The microsporophylls are similar to the stamens of the flowering plant. Ephedra l ephedra or mormontea usda forest service. Some asian species have been used as a source of the stimulant ephedrine, and many are important in herbal medicine. The plant is found in the mojave desert and colorado desert of. The plant list includes 157 scientific plant names of species rank for the genus ephedra.
Common names are arizona ephedra, arizona jointfir, and desert mormontea. The plant list includes a further 79 scientific plant names of infraspecific rank for the genus ephedra. Information and translations of ephedraceae in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. This page was last edited on 22 december 2019, at 22. Ephedra viridis ephedraceae mormon tea, green jointfir. The gymnosperm database was established as an online entity in the summer of 1997 and has since grown steadily, getting its own url in the summer of 1999. Purpose of assessment the federal office of consumer protection and food safety bvl, in collaboration with the als working party on dietary foods, nutrition and classification issues, has compiled a hit list of 10 substances, the consumption of which may pose a health risk. Ephedraceae, so northeast china and adjacent areas may represent either the centre of origination or one of the centres for early diversification of the family. Ephedra is an airway passage opener extraoidinaire. The naked seeds are the features, which places ephedra with the classical group, the gymnosperms. Deep healing energy 528hz ancient frequency sound healing session zen meditation duration.
A drug containing ephedrine derived from one of these plants, used in traditional chinese medicine as a stimulant and. Ephedraceae dumortier mormontea or jointfir family dennis wm. Thus it superficially appears that these plants are an evolutionary link between the conifers and the true flowering plants. The family ephedraceae is in the major group gymnosperms conifers, cycads and allies. Ephedra family ephedraceae, the jointfirs is a genus of nonflowering seed plants. Plants of the ephedra family the ephedras produce naked seeds like the pines, but they form on a colored, cuplike structure called a perianth. Stony slopes and gravel terraces, often on limestone. Two subfamilies and two tribes are described as new to science. Some dozen or so species occur in the western united states, with three ephedra viridis, ephedra cutleri, ephedra torreyana common in the four corners area. Although used for medicinal purposes in the past, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine have only been detectable in eurasian species of ephedra.
Ephedraceae jointfir family ephedra is the only genus from this family represented at arches national park. The vast majority of species are distributed in central 25 species and western 17 species asia. However, relationships among these fossils and modern ephedra remain ambiguous. The family ephedraceae is also known as the mormon tea or joint fir family. Ephedra fasciculata is a species of plant in the ephedraceae family. A taxonomic family within the order gnetales many asiatic shrubs.
Lee, the history of ephedra mahuang, journal of the royal. Information and translations of family ephedraceae in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. Ephedra is also called chinese ephedra, ma huang and herbal ecstasy. Morphological characters and geographical distribution are the same as those of the family. Members of the genus frequently spread by the use of rhizomes. Ephedra definition of ephedra by the free dictionary. Ephedra the ephedra family, ephedraceae, has but one genus, ephedra.
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