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Ephedra

File:Green_ephedra_Ephedra_viridis_close.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Ephedra

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genus of plants

OverviewAI-generated

Ephedra is a genus of plants within the family Ephedraceae. It belongs to the class Gnetopsida and the order Ephedrales, under the phylum Tracheophyta and kingdom Plantae. The genus is also referred to by the common names jointfir and ma huang. Its taxonomic type is Ephedra distachya, and it produces berries as its fruit type.

Records of Ephedra have been documented in the United States and Mexico. Various institutions, including BAYLU, UCMP, TTC, SJNM, and IBUNAM, hold records related to this genus. The taxon is described in sources such as the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary and Pauly–Wissowa.

Synthesized by Vinony from 41 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, PubMed, Gbif Occ, Plants of the World, WoRMS, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Species

Ephedra

GENUS

  1. KingdomPlantae
  2. PhylumTracheophyta
  3. ClassGnetopsida
  4. OrderEphedrales
  5. FamilyEphedraceae
Native toAfghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Altay, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Arizona, Austria, Baleares, Bolivia, Brazil South
Observations recorded92,600

Common Name: ma huang (China)

via GBIF · Kew POWO

Museum specimens

Specimen records
1,060
With media
791
Family
Ephedraceae
Collections
BAYLU, UCMP, TTC, SJNM, IBUNAM, FESI-UNAM
Recorded in
United States, Mexico
iDigBio →

Research

1,423 papers

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Instance of
taxon
Parent taxon
Ephedraceae
Image
Pollença - Ma-2210 - Cap de Formentor - Ephedra fragilis 05 ies.jpg
Show 9 more facts
topic's main category
Category:Ephedra
taxon rank
genus
taxon name
Ephedra
GRIN URL
npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxonomygenus.aspx?id=4296
this taxon is source of
ephedra
described by source
Pauly–Wissowa
taxon common name
麻黄属
Commons category
Ephedra
taxonomic type
Ephedra distachya
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~14 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Ephedra is a genus of gymnosperm shrubs. As of July 2025, 74 species, and two hybrids, are accepted. The species of Ephedra are widespread in many arid regions of the world, ranging across southwestern North America, southern Europe, northern Africa, southwest and central Asia, northern China, and western South America. It is the only extant genus in its family, Ephedraceae, and order, Ephedrales, and one of the three extant genera of the division Gnetophyta together with Gnetum and Welwitschia.

In temperate climates, most Ephedra species grow on shores or in sandy soils with direct sun exposure. Common names in English include joint-pine, jointfir, Mormon-tea, or Brigham tea. The Chinese name for Ephedra species is mahuang (simplified Chinese: 麻黄; traditional Chinese: 麻黃; pinyin: máhuáng; Wade–Giles: ma-huang; lit. 'hemp yellow'). Ephedra is the origin of the name of the stimulant ephedrine, which the plants contain in significant concentration.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ephedra” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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