Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Ephedra torreyana

Ephedraceae

Mormon-tea, Torrey's Ephedra, Torrey's joint fir

Ephedra family, joint-fir family, Mormon-tea family
Habit Shrubs erect, 0.25–1 m. Bark gray, cracked and irregularly fissured. Shrubs or vines, erect or clambering, Equisetum -like, dioecious (very rarely monoecious).
Roots

generally fibrous.
Bark

gray to reddish brown, cracked and fissured.
Branches

alternate or whorled, rigid, angle of divergence about 45°.

generally many, terete, whorled to fascicled, finely longitudinally grooved, internodes 1–10 cm.
Twigs

blue-green, becoming gray with age, glaucous, with numerous very fine longitudinal grooves;

internodes 2–5 cm.

Leaves

in whorls of 3, 2–5 mm, connate to 2/3 their length;

bases becoming gray and shredded with age;

apex acute.

simple, opposite and decussate or whorled, scalelike, connate at base to form sheath, generally ephemeral, mostly not photosynthetic;

resin canals absent.
Pollen cones

1–4 at node, ovoid, 6–8 mm, sessile;

bracts in 6–9 whorls of 3, cream to pale yellow, ovate, slightly clawed, 2–4 × 2–4 mm, membranous;

bracteoles slightly exceeding bracts;

sporangiophores 2–4 mm, exserted to 1/2 their length, with 5–8 sessile to short-stalked microsporangia.

compound, 1–10 in whorls at nodes; each compound cone composed of 2–8 sets of opposite or whorled membranous bracts, proximal bracts empty, each distal bract subtending a small cone composed of 2 basally fused bracteoles subtending a sporangiophore bearing 2–10(–15) sessile to long-stalked, bilocular, apically dehiscent, pollen-producing microsporangia.
Seed(s)

cones 1–several at node, ovoid, 9–15 mm, sessile;

bracts in 5 or 6 whorls of 3, obovate, 6–9 × 6–10 mm, papery, translucent with orange-yellow to greenish yellow center and base, base clawed, margins minutely dentate, undulate.

cones compound, 1–10 in whorls at nodes of twigs; each compound cone sessile or on short to long peduncle, composed of 2–10 sets of overlapping, opposite or whorled, membranous or papery to fleshy bracts, proximal bracts empty, most distal bracts subtending 1 axillary cone composed of a pair of fused bracteoles enclosing a single-integumented ovule with integument projecting as tube from bracteole-envelope, envelope forming a leathery "seed coat" that is shed with seed.
Terminal

buds conic, less than 4 mm.

Pollen

prolate, with 6–12 longitudinal furrows, not winged.

Ephedra torreyana

Ephedraceae
Phenology Coning spring.
Habitat Dry rocky to sandy areas
Elevation 500–2000 m (1600–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; NV; TX; UT; Mexico in Chihuahua
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Temperate and warm regions; worldwide except Australia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Ephedra torreyana is known to form hybrids with two other species of Ephedra as reported and described by H. C. Cutler (1939). The first of these is E. × intermixta Cutler, the hybrid between E. torreyana and E. trifurca. This hybrid occurs in a small area of southwestern New Mexico (near Engle, Sierra County) within the zone of sympatry of the two parental species; it may be fertile (mature seeds are formed). It is intermediate in most characters but can be identified by its combination of the spinelike terminal buds of E. trifurca and the scabrous, light yellow seeds of E. torreyana.

The second hybrid is Ephedra × arenicola Cutler, the hybrid between E. torreyana and E. cutleri. This hybrid is known only from the type locality in extreme northeastern Arizona (near Dennehotso, Apache County) in an area of sympatry of the parental species. This hybrid is intermediate in most characters, but it can be distinguished by its combination of the setaceous leaves, viscid stems, and long-pedunculate seed cones of E. cutleri with the persistent, whorled leaves of E. torreyana.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

In addition to the characters given in the key to families, wood anatomy can be used to distinguish Ephedra from the other gymnosperms in the flora. Only Ephedra has small cones, ring porous wood, wide multiseriate rays, and vessels in older stems.

Since antiquity, several species of Ephedra have been used medicinally worldwide. Such uses include cough medicines, an antipyretic, an antisyphilitic, a stimulant for poor circulation, and an antihistamine. These uses are based on the presence of tannins and alkaloids, particularly ephedrines.

Genus 1, species ca. 60 (12 species in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2. FNA vol. 2, p. 428. Author: Dennis Wm. Stevenson.
Parent taxa Ephedraceae > Ephedra
Sibling taxa
E. antisyphilitica, E. aspera, E. californica, E. coryi, E. cutleri, E. fasciculata, E. funerea, E. nevadensis, E. pedunculata, E. trifurca, E. viridis
Subordinate taxa
Name authority S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 14: 299. (1879) Dumortier
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers