Ephedra.] LXXV. GNETAOE^. 5,01 



1. EPHEDRA, Tourn. 



Shrubs or undershrubs with nodose stems, and articulate opposite or 

 wborled branches. Wood analogous in structure to the wood of conifers, 

 composed of rays and wood-cells with discs. Leaves reduced to a mem- 

 branous sheath with 2 opposite, sometimes linear lobes. Flowers dioicous, 

 rarely monoicous, in terminal and lateral short, bracteate, sessile or pedun- 

 culate spikes, opposite in pairs or whorled. Male flowers in the axils of 

 opposite bracts, forming an ovoid 4:-20-flowered spike ; anthers 2-10, two- 

 ceUed, opening by pores at the top. Pemale spike of 2 flowers, rarely 1, 

 enclosed by a membranous bifid or bipartite sheath, surrounded at the base 

 by numerous imbricate bracts. Seeds two, flat on the inner, convex on 

 the outer face, rarely 1 seed only. 



Branches erect, intemodes 1-2 in. long ; anthers 6-10, stipitate ; 

 tube of inner sheath of female flowers short, included -within 

 the outer bracts, bifid, lobes exserted . . . . 1. S. mdgwris. 



Branches slender, flaccid, sometimes scandent, intemodes 1-4 in. 

 long ; anthers 2-5, sessile ; tube of inner sheath of female 

 flowers exserted, truncate or indistinctly 2-lobed . . 2. X AUe. 



1. E. vulgaris, Eich. ; DC. Prodr. xvi. ii. 354. — Syn. E. monostachya, 

 and distaeliya, Linn. ; Eeichenb. Ic. Fl. Germ. t. 539. Vern. Asmdnia, 

 ludshur, butshur, chewa, Pb. ; KJianda, khanna, Kunawar ; Tse, tsapatt, 

 trano, Ladak. 



A smaU. rigid shrub,' branches green or brownish, cylindrio, with numer- 

 ous raised scabrous lines, intemodes 1-2, sometimes 2|- in. long, sheaths 

 yellow or brown, with a white membranous edge and 2 acute teeth, shorter 

 than sheath. Male spikes yellow, subsessUe, in lateral or terminal, often 

 whorled clusters ; anthers 6-10, the inner ones stipitate. Female spikes, 

 lateral or terminal, in pairs or whorled clusters, subsessUe or short-pedun- 

 culate ; tube of inner sheath short, included within the outer bracts, 2-fid, 

 lobes exserted. Fruit ovoid, succulent, .sweet, pale- or bright-red when 

 ripe, |- in. long, seeds 2. 



Dry stony hills, Afghanistan and Baluchistan, inner arid and intermediate 

 Himalaya, Jhelam, Chenab, and Sutlej, between 7800 and 12,800 ft. (Urni the 

 lower limit in Kunawar), West Tibet to 16,600 ft, (Stewart), inner Kamaon and 

 inner Sikkim, and adjoining parts of Tibet, ascending to 16,000 ft.. South Europe, 

 North Africa, Western Asia, Oauoasus, Siberia. Fl. April-June, later at high 

 elevations ; the fruit ripens Aug.-Oct. At high elevations, often not more than a 

 few inches high, lower down attains 2-4 ft., with woody, often gnarled, stems, and 

 numerous, opposite or whorled, straight erect, and often tuberculate branches. 

 Bark grey, rugose, inner substance fibrous, brown, very tough. Wood whitish- 

 yellow. The fruit, which looks pretty, clustered on. the dark-green branches, is 

 very sweet, and is eaten in some places — e. g., on the Sutlej. The branches are 

 browsed by goats, the Yak does not touch them. In the treeless parts of Ladak 

 the woody roots and stems are used as fuel. 



2. E. Alte, C. A. Meyer— Tab. LXIX.— Versuch einer Monographie 

 d. Gattung Ephedra, St Petersburg, 1846, 75.— Syn. E. ciliata, Fischer 



