JOINT FIR FAMILY 369 



GNETACEAE JOINT FIR FAMILY 



Staminate flowers in catkins with solitary or clustered stamens in a 

 papery, 2-toothed perianth, pistillate flower an erect ovule with a projecting, 

 style-like appendage, enclosed in a perianth which is hardened and often 

 thickened in fruit; flowers dioecious with persistent bracts in axillary 

 clusters ; shrubs or small trees, mostly with jointed, opposite or clustered 

 branches and opposite or whorled foliage-like or scale-like leaves. 



EPHEDRA Linne 1753 JOINT FIR 

 (Gr. epi, upon, hedra, seat) 



PL 47, fig. 13. 

 Characters of the family. 



1. Scales and branches opposite; bracts united; fruit 



5-6 mm. long E. antisyphilitica 



2. Scales and branches in 3's ; bracts hardly united ; 



fruit 7-12 mm. long 



a. Scales short, 2-3 mm. long; fruit rough, 7-8 



mm. long E. Torreydna 



b. Scales long, 6-12 mm. long; fruit smooth, 12 



mm. long E. trifurca 



