Ephedra fedtschenkoae (雌雄麻黄) description

Conservation Status

Ephedra fedtschenkoae

Paulsen (1905)

Common names

雌雄麻黄 ci xiong ma huang (Chinese) (Fu et al. 1999).

Taxonomic notes

No data as of 2026-01-15.

Description

"Subshrubs small, to 10 cm, monoecious or dioecious; woody stems short, inconspicuous, much branched; green branchlets short, usually with only 2-4 nodes, internodes 1-2 cm × ca. 1.5 mm, smooth or nearly so. Leaves opposite, connate for 1/2-2/3 their length. Pollen cones and seed cones randomly arranged on the branches, but seed cones more often on the middle to distal parts. Pollen cones usually opposite at nodes, ovoid, 3-4 × 2-3 mm; bracts in 4-6 pairs; staminal column exserted, with 4-8 sessile anthers. Seed cones sessile to subsessile, oblong-ovoid at maturity; bracts in 3 pairs, connate for (1/4-)1/3(-2/3) their length, red and fleshy at maturity; integument tube, ca. 1 mm, straight, rarely slightly curved. Seeds 1 or 2, dark brown, not pruinose, ovoid, 4-5 × 2-3 mm, apex acute. Pollination Jun-Jul, seed maturity Aug-Sep" (Fu et al. 1999). See also the description in Bobrov (1968).

Distribution and Ecology

China: Xinjiang; Kazakhstan; Mongolia; Tajikistan. In China found on dry and rocky slopes at 1900-3800 m elevation (Fu et al. 1999).

Remarkable Specimens

No data as of 2026-01-15.

Ethnobotany

No data as of 2026-01-15.

Observations

See the observations on iNaturalist, accessed 2021.12.30.

Remarks

The epithet honors Russian botanist, geologist and explorer Olga Fedtschenko, "a remarkable Oriental florist" (Paulsen 1905).

Citations

Bobrov, E. G. 1968. Ephedraceae, pp. 154-160 in V.L. Komarov (ed.), Flora of the USSR, Vol. 1, trans. by the Israel Program for Scientific Translations. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution and National Science Foundation. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2021.12.29.

Paulsen, Ove. 1905. Plants collected in Asia-Media and Persia. II. Botanisk Tidsskrift 26: 254. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2021.12.31.