Ephedraceae: Ephedra or Mormon Tea Family. Identify plants and shrubs.

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Ephedraceae: Ephedra Family Plant Identification Characteristics.

Ephedraceae
Plants of the Ephedra Family

The Ephedras produce naked seeds like the pines, but they form on a colored, cup-like structure called a perianth. Thus it superficially appears that these plants are an evolutionary link between the conifers and the true flowering plants. However, these are a recently evolved class of plants, and the fossil record indicates that the flowering plants developed before them.

The Ephedras are leafless desert shrubs with jointed, green stems forming in whorls at nodes along the stalk. Unlike other naked seeds, the Ephedras lack resin canals. The male cones have 2 to 8 anthers. The female cones have bracts covering the two maturing seeds. Worldwide there is 1 genus and about 50 species.

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Ephedra viridis. Mormon Tea.	Ephedra viridis. Mormon Tea. Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah.
Ephedra sp. Mormon Tea.	Ephedra sp. Mormon Tea. Near Portal, Arizona.