Ephedra (Ma Huang) :: Botany

joint fir (Ma Huang) ephedras species be an ever car park shrub, native to North China and Inner Mongolia. Its yellow/green branching shrub growing to an average of 20 inches (50cm) with long narrow, straggly stems and tiny leaves, can be give in desert or arid regions throughout the world. Its color can be green, gray, or red, depending on the species. The plant has small greenish yellow flowers and tiny nodes (joints) on the stalks (2). Ephedra is propagated from seed or by root division in crepuscle and demands well drained soil. It usually grows on dry, rocky or sandy slopes, and loves full sun. It matures very slowly and is very challenging to grow (1). usual InformationEphedra (common name) comes from the family Ephedraceae. It has several scientific names that depend upon the plants base location Ephedra major (American), Ephedra trifurca (American), Ephedra nevadensis (American) are found in North America and Ephedra sinica (Chinese- Ma Huang) is found in Asia. Other v arieties of Ephedra can be found in Europe, India, and Pakistan. Ephedra was initially found in a Neolithic grave in the Middle East. This evidence may indicate that Ephedra was social functiond as a medicine more than 60,000 year ago. In China, Ephedra was the graduation herbal remedy to yield an active constituent, in this case ephedrine. The firstly isolation of ephedrine was in 1887, by a Japanese chemist, N. Nagai (2,5).Folk and diachronic TraditionsThe Zen Monks utilize Ephedra to encourage calm concentration during meditation. fit in to a legend, a tea containing Ephedra was given to the bodyguards of Genguis Khan, to keep them from fall asleep on sentry duty. Mormon Tea, one of Ephedras folk names, stems from the use of the tea by Mormons it was used as a replacement arousal for the coffee and black tea the Mormons couldnt drink. In the 1800s Ephedra tea was served in Brothels, claiming to cure gonorrhea and syphilis. Ephedra tea today is not used as a cure it will n ot cure these STDs (2). healthful ValuesThe Medicinal use of Ephedra in China dates from close to 2800B.C. In 1923 the practitioners of Western Medicine began their interest in Ephedra. Soon after, ephedrine became astray used as a nasal decongestant, a central queasy system stimulant, and a treatment for asthma in America. The isolated alkaloid primarily obtained from Ephedra species, have been used in a substantial totality of prescription drugs and over-the-counter decongestants and allergy medications (2,4).