The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Ephedra altissima
Ephedra altissima is a green, dioecious desert shrub native to North Africa, the Sahara and the Canary Islands, grown as an ornamental and medicinal plant. Male and female flowers are on separate plants, so both sexes are needed for seed, and it thrives in full sun with well-drained soil.
Ephedra altissima is a species of Ephedra that is native to the western Sahara (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Chad, Mauritania), and also to the Canary Islands.
The species is cultivated as an ornamental plant and medicinal plant.
This plant is located in Algeria, Chad, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Spain, Tunisia, and the western Sahara. It can be viewed at elevations between 10 meters to 700 meters above sea level.
The members of this genus have alkaloid ephedrine which are integral in the treatment of asthma and other related respiratory issues. By using the entire plant and not just the stem it has been observed, as compared to isolated ephedrine, to have few side effects. This is used to treat symptoms not cure respiratory issues. Young plants have the best potency if ingested raw while older plants are best to be dried and used in a tea.
Cutler's jointfir · Join · Gerard jointfir · Ephedra intermedia · Dwarf Joint Fir · Nevada jointfir · Ephedra rhytidosperma · Chinese ephedra · Jointfir
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ephedra altissima by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
