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Common name: Ephedra Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 40.
Gymnosperm.
Disseminule a cone, or a seed.
Cones
Cone dry, or fleshy (some Australian Ephredra); when dry simple (Spjut recognized 3 families: Ephedraceae, Stangeriaceae, Zamiaceae); with sporophylls; with scalelike sporophylls; simple when fleshy (for some spp. of Ephredra). Fruiting bracts present (& either membranous & winged, fleshy, red); winged, or not winged.
Seeds
Aril absent. Seed larger than minute; ovate, or circular; in transection terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without markedly different marginal tissue; with fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; without crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle; without notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approach each other; without glands; without bristles; glabrous; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; brown (all shades), or yellow, or orange, or red; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 1 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; foliate; straight; parallel to seed length; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.6 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 1.25 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; partially concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Asia Major.
Notes
Seeds ripen with an outer envelope (from cone) becoming coriaceous or fleshy, sometimes vividly colored (yellow or orange). Bracts of stobilus 1) form membranous keeled wings (wind disperal) and or 2) bracts becoming fleshy and vividly colored & forming a 2-seeded pseudoberry (bird dispersal). Spjut's "simple cone" does not apply to this pseudoberry, because he defined a this cone as having "dry, woody-scalelike megasporophylls.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Ephedra nevadensis S. Watson -- Ephedra viridis Coville -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Ephedra equisetina Bunge -- Symbols: aagricultural and vegetable seeds (Table 2A Part 1); ttree and shrub species (Table 2A Part 2); fflower, spice, herb, and medicinal seeds (Table 2A Part 3); wweed seeds. -- Last updated September 2008.
Accepted genera
Ephedra L.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 0 (not present).
General references
Gunn, C.R., J.H. Wiersema, C.A. Ritchie, and J.H. Kirkbride, Jr. 1992 and amendments. Families and genera of Spermatophytes recognized by the Agricultural Research Service. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1796:1–500, Kubitzki, K. 1990. Gnetatae with the single living order Gnetales. In: Kubitzki, K., ed., The families and genera of vascular plants, vol. 1, pp. 378–391. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Mabberley, D.J. 1987. The plant-book, 706 p. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
No simple cone and acceptable seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): seed. Seed illustration(s): Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 412: Ephedra altissima Desf. (A-B).
• Seed. 1 of 3. Ephedra ciliata Fisch. ex C. A. Mey.: fruit. • Embryo. 2 of 3. Ephedra ciliata Fisch. ex C. A. Mey.: seed. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Ephedra altissima Desf.: embryo.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘J.H. Kirkbride, Jr., C.R. Gunn, and M.J. Dallwitz. 2000 onwards. Family guide for fruits and seeds: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 12th April 2021. delta-intkey.com’.
