Monograph of the North American Species of the Genus Ephedra

Abstract

The importance of the drug, ephedrine, secured from Asiatic species of Ephedra, in the treatment of nasal colds, asthma and hay fever has attracted wide attention to this genus. Workers in range management have investigated the relative palatability of various species, and students of phylogeny have speculated on the role of the genus in a phylogenetic sequence. These last have contributed to the confusion in the terminology for, in addition to applying descriptive terms derived from Angiosperm and Gymnosperm sources, they coined new ones. Unfortunately, many of the investigations are of little value because the material was incorrectly identified or was a mixture of more than one species.Correct determination of material is extremely difficult, for the number of species has nearly doubled since the publication of the last monograph of the entire genus and many of them were originally described from sterile or from staminate material. Approximately two-thirds of collected specimens cannot be identified with certainty from existing descriptions. The present study determines the correct application of names, proposes several new ones for hitherto undescribed forms, delimits the North American species, and provides means for their accurate determination. The South American species are not discussed in the present work but will be taken up later.Manuals, floras, and other works which recognize species of * An investigation carried out at the Missouri Botanical Garden in the Graduate Laboratory of the Henry Shaw School of Botany of Washington University and submitted as a thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Washingt Issued November 30, 1939.

Wood and Bark Anatomy of the New World Species of Ephedra

“…Provenance of the specimens studied is as follows: Cutler (1939), Hunziker (1949), and Roig (1984). These accounts supplant that of Stapf (1889) at the species level.…”

“…ex Stapf. Stapf's (1889) scheme is given below, with addition of species described subsequently, as recognized in the papers by Cutler (1939), Hunziker (1949), and Roig (1984).…”

Revisión taxonómica y distribución geográfica de Ephedra (Ephedraceae) en México

“…brachycarpa Cory se indica en la descripción original que el holotipo se encuentra depositado en el herbario US, pero Cutler (1939) Arbustos erectos, 0.25-1.25 m de altura. Tallos jóvenes de color verde pálido a verde oscuro, volviéndose amarillos con la edad, de extremadamente ásperos a lisos y glaucos, con numerosos surcos longitudinales; la madera de tallos maduros cinérea, fragmentada y fisurada.…”

“…Watson publicó E. trifurca en 1871, ocho años después dio a conocer otras tres especies, E. californica, E. nevadensis y E. torreyana y más tarde, a partir de las notas de Engelmann, a E. aspera y E. pedunculata (Cutler, 1939). Posteriormente Stapf (1889) revisó el género incluyendo 31 especies distribuidas en tres secciones con base en los caracteres de las brácteas: Alatae con brácteas membranáceas, secas y aladas, Asarca con brácteas secas, no aladas y Pseudobaccateae (=Ephedra) con brácteas carnosas, no aladas.…”

“…De acuerdo con Ickert-Bond y Wojciechowski (2004), las tres secciones propuestas por Stapf (1889) no forman grupos monofiléticos; sin embargo, los caracteres que tomó en cuenta son útiles para determinar especies. Cutler (1939) publicó una revisión de Ephedra en Norteamérica, en la cual por primera vez se incluye a E. compacta, descrita en 1909. Stevenson (1993) retomó el género en la Flora de Norteamérica reconociendo 12 especies para esa región.…”