Ephedra foliata
Boiss. & Ktoschy, ex Boiss.
Shrubby horsetail
(c) Miguel A. Casado, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) SONU KUMAR, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) T R Shankar Raman, some rights reserved (CC BY)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Fruit
The fleshy fruit are eaten.
Where to Find It
It is a subtropical plant. It grows on rocky slopes and sand dunes. It grows at higher altitudes in Bahrain.
Asia, Bahrain, Djibouti, East Africa, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Himalayas, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen,
How to Identify
A sprawling shrub. It branches many times. It grows up to 1 m tall. The leaves are vary few and are narrow and opposite. The flowers are in spikes at the ends of branches. The flowers are white and cone shaped. The fruit are fleshy and are green but turn brown. They have a split at the tip making them heart shaped.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Ephedra foliata is a species of gymnosperm in the Ephedraceae family. It is referred to by the common name shrubby horsetail. It is native to North Africa, and Southwest Asia, from Morocco and Mauritania east to Turkmenistan, Pakistan, and Punjab State in India. Taxonomy Ephedra foliata was originally described by Pierre Edmond Boissier, later validly published by Carl Anton von Meyer in 1846, and placed in section Pseudobaccatae (=sect. Ephedra), "tribe" Scandentes by Otto Stapf in 1889. In 1996 Robert A. Price classified E. foliata in section Ephedra without recognizing a tribe.
Notes
There are about 40 Ephedra species.
Names & Synonyms
Alada, Andhokimp, Suaphogro
References (6)
- Al-Sodany, Y. M., et al, 2013, Medicinal Plants in Saudi Arabia: I. Sarrwat Mountains at Taif, KSA. Academic Journal of Plant Sciences 6 (4): 134-145
- Ambasta, S.P. (Ed.), 2000, The Useful Plants of India. CSIR India. p 197 (var. ciliata)
- P. E. Boissier, Diagn. pl. orient. ser. 1, 7:101. 1846
- Phillips, D.C., 1988, Wild Flowers of Bahrain. A Field Guide to Herbs, Shrubs, and Trees. Privately published. p 87
- Plants for a Future database, The Field, Penpol, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0NG, UK. http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/
- SAXENA,
