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

Ephedraceae

Ephedra family, joint-fir family, Mormon-tea family
Habit Shrubs or vines, erect or clambering, Equisetum -like, dioecious (very rarely monoecious).
Roots

generally fibrous.
Bark

gray to reddish brown, cracked and fissured.
Branches

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

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

resin canals absent.
Pollen cones

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 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.
Pollen

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

Ephedraceae
Distribution
Temperate and warm regions; worldwide except Australia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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, p. 428. Treatment author: Dennis Wm. Stevenson.
Parent taxa
Subordinate taxa
Name authority 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 Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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