Death Valley Mormon Tea

Shrubs erect, 0.25--1.5 m. Bark gray, slightly cracked and irregularly fissured. Branches alternate or whorled, rigid, angle of divergence about 60°. Twigs gray-green, becoming gray with age, glaucous, slightly scabrous, with numerous very fine longitudinal grooves; internodes 2--6 cm. Terminal buds conic, 1--4 mm, apex acute. Leaves in whorls of 3, 2--6 mm, connate to 2/3--3/4 their length; bases splitting at margins, persistent, forming black, thickened collar; apex acute. Pollen cones 1--3 at node, narrowly ellipsoid, 5--8 mm, on very short, scaly peduncles (rarely sessile); bracts in 6--9 whorls of 3, light yellow, ovate, 3--4 × 2--3 mm, membranous, base short-clawed; bracteoles equaling bracts; sporangiophores 3--5 mm, exserted to 1/3 their length, with 3--7 sessile to short-stalked microsporangia. Seed cones 1--3 at node, lance-obovoid, 8--15 mm, on short, scaly peduncles (rarely sessile); bracts in 6--9 whorls of 3, obovate, 4--8 × 3--5 mm, papery, yellow-translucent with green-yellow center and base, base broadly clawed, margins slightly dentate. Seeds 1(--3), ellipsoid, 6--10 × 2--4 mm, pale green to light brown, smooth to scabrous.

Calif., Nev.

Coning March--April. Sandy, dry soil and rocky scrub areas; of conservation concern; 500--1500m.

Ephedra californica S. Watson var. funerea (Coville & C. V. Morton) L. D. Benson

Shrub, Evergreen, Dioecious, Habit erect, Trees without or rarely having knees, Primary plant stem smooth, Young shoots 3-dimensional, Buds not resinous, Leaves scale-like, Leaves whorled, Leaves mostly not photosynthetic, Non-needle-like leaf margins entire, Leaf apex acute, Leaf apex mucronulate, Leaves < 5 cm long, Leaves < 10 cm long, Leaves yellow-green above, Leaves yellow-green below, Leaves yellow below, Leaves grey-green, Leaves not blue-green, Scale leaves without raised glands, Scale leaf glands not ruptured, Scales leaves not or barely overlapping, Twigs glabrous, Twigs not viscid, Twigs without peg-like projections or large fascicles after needles fall, Berry-like cones copper, Bracts of seed cone included, Seeds green, Seeds tan, Seeds wingless.

Ephedra funerea is a species of Ephedra, known by the common name Death Valley jointfir, Death Valley ephedra, or Mormon Tea.

It is native to the Mojave Desert of California, Arizona and Nevada. It is named after a population in the Funeral Mountains, in Death Valley National Park.

Native Americans and Mormon pioneers drank a tea brewed from this plant called Mormon Tea or Indian Tea.