Ephedra (Ma Huang) :: Botany

ephedra (Ma Huang) Ephedras species are an evergreen shrub, native to North China and Inner Mongolia. Its yellow/green fork-like shrub growing to an average of 20 inches (50cm) with long narrow, sprawling stems and tiny leaves, can be found in desert or arid regions passim 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 autumn and demands well drained soil. It usually grows on dry, rocky or sandy slopes, and loves full sun. It matures very(prenominal) slowly and is very challenging to grow (1).General InformationEphedra (common name) comes from the family Ephedraceae. It has several scientific names that depend upon the plants founding 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. Othe r varieties 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 employ as a medicine more than 60,000 year ago. In China, Ephedra was the first herbal remedy to yield an active constituent, in this case ephedrine. The first isolation of ephedrine was in 1887, by a Japanese chemist, N. Nagai (2,5).Folk and Historic TraditionsThe Zen Monks used Ephedra to encourage calm concentration during meditation. According to a legend, a teatime containing Ephedra was given to the bodyguards of Genguis Khan, to keep them from falling 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 stimulant 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 not cure these STDs (2). Medicinal ValuesThe Medicinal use of Ephedra in China dates from approximately 2800B.C. In 1923 the practitioners of Western Medicine began their interest in Ephedra. Soon after, ephedrine became widely used as a nasal decongestant, a commutation nervous system stimulant, and a treatment for asthma in America. The isolated alkaloid originally obtained from Ephedra species, have been used in a substantial sum of prescription drugs and over-the-counter decongestants and allergy medications (2,4).