402 
FLORA OF ADEN , 
Genera 3 ; species about 40. 
Distribution In temperate and tropical regions, 
1. Ephedra Linn. 
Erect or subscandent rigid sbrubs ; branches opposite or whorled, 
terete, striate, with membranous sheaths at the nodes, which often bear 
narrow leafy blades. 
Flowers unisexual, usually dioecious. Male flowers in short bracteate 
spikelets which are whorled or in pairs. Perianth of 2 opposite com- 
pressed membranous sepals. Anthers 2-8, on a central column, 2-celled, 
opening by a short slit at the apex. Female flowers usually in pairs, 
sometimes 3 or solitary, each flower consisting of 1 ovule with a single 
integument prolonged into a styliform tube (tubillus) and enclosed in a 
bag, each female inflorescence supported by several pairs of decussate 
bracts. 
Fruit in our species fleshy, consisting of several succulent bracts 
enclosing 1 or 2 seeds. Seeds usually oblong, plano-convex, testa 
dry. 
Species about 30. 
Distribution : — Dry regions of Europe, N. Africa, Asia, America. 
1. Ephedra foliata Boiss. FI. Orient. Y (1881), 716; Stapf, Die Art. 
d. Gatt. Ephedra (1889) p. 49; Cooke FI. Bomb. Pres. II, 665. 
Ephedra peduncularis Boiss. FI. Orient. Y (1881), 717 ; Hook FI, 
Brit. Ind. V, 641. 
Ephedra Alte Brandis For. FI. p. 501, t. 69 (not of C. A. Meyer). 
Description : — A dioecious or monoecious climbing shrub reaching 
15 feet long or more (rarely prostrate or hanging from walls) ; 
branches often fascicled # slender ; bark green or glaucescent, smooth, 
striate ; buds terminal, minute, shortly ovate or more or less elongate. 
Leaves 2, 3, or 4, shortly connate at the base, 1-1 J inch long by inch 
broad, linear-setaceous. Male flowers : spikelets ovate, obtuse, tetra- 
gonal, in pairs, or 3 together, or solitary, of various lengths, often 
with a peduncle 1-1 \ inches long ; flowers 6-24 ; bracts rotund, obtuse, 
connate for -J-J their length, yViV inch long and as broad as long ; 
perianth obovate, exceeding the bracts ; staminal column equalling the 
perianth or shortly exserted. Female flowers : floral galbuli in depau- 
perate usually nodding cymes, ovate, on long peduncles or in short 
fascicles, with 3 pairs of bracts ; flowers usually in pairs, equalling 
the bracts ; integument at first oblong, obtusely trigonous ; tubillus 
