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Ephedra sinica
Also called Chinese Joint Fir
Chinese ephedra is a dioecious evergreen shrub related to conifers, with tiny leaves on green jointed stems, native to dry highlands and steppes of Mongolia, northern China and Russia. It is grown mainly for its stems, which are a source of the alkaloid ephedrine.
Ephedra sinica (also known as Chinese ephedra or ma huang) is a species of Ephedra in the plant family Ephedraceae. Native to Mongolia, northern China, and Russia, it is a shrub found on arid highland slopes, dry river beds, steppes, fields or mountain sides.
E. sinica contains alkaloids, including ephedrine, which have been a basis for using the plant in traditional medicine for thousands of years. Due to concerns about alkaloid toxicity, ephedrine has been banned from the market in the European Union, United States, and many other countries.
Alkaloid extracts of the E. sinica plant contain ephedrine, which is the active ingredient for its intended therapeutic effects in traditional medicine, and for its adverse effects.
High-climbing jointfir · Cutler's jointfir · Join · Gerard jointfir · Ephedra intermedia · Dwarf Joint Fir · Nevada jointfir · Ephedra rhytidosperma · Jointfir
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ephedra sinica 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.
