author(s) : Rasha Fouad, Elsayed A. Omer and Abdel-Fattah M. Rizk

The Family Ephedraceae includes ca. 45 species of the genus Ephedra indigenous to the temperate and subtropicalregions of Asia, Europe, North and Central America.
The plants are herbaceous perennials that can exceed 1 m in height, with a strong pine odor and anastringent taste (Abourashed et al., 2003).