Ephedra sarcocarpa

Aitch. & Hemsl. (1888)

Common names

No data as of 2026-01-15.

Taxonomic notes

Kakiuchi et al. (2011), in a study based on analysis of nrITS sequences, place E. sarcocarpa in a well-defined clade with E. strobilacea and E. transitoria, sister to a larger and more complex clade containing many Asian species. Rydin and Korall (2009), using a mix of plastid and nuclear loci, found a similar result but placed the clade sister to E. distachya, a very widespread Eurasian species.

Type collected in Hari-run valley, Afghanistan, on 1885.07.27 (Aitchison 1888).

Description

"Plant with rigid branches c. 2 mm thick. Filaments ± free, included in bracts. Tubillus straight. Seeds small, trilobed, slightly exserted from the involucre" (Ali and Qaiser 1987).

Aitchison (1888) called it "A shrub resembling E. pachyclada, Boiss., but altogether a much larger plant, and the brilliant scarlet fruit twice as large."

Distribution and Ecology

Afghanistan; Pakistan: Baluchistan (Ali and Qaiser 1987).

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 sarcocarpa means "fleshy-seeded".

Citations

Aitchison, J. E. 1888. The Botany of the Afghan Delimitation Commission. Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. 3:112. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2021.12.24.

Ali, S.I. and M. Qaiser (eds.). 1987. Flora of Pakistan. http://www.efloras.org.

Rydin, C., and P. Korall. 2009. Evolutionary relationships in Ephedra (Gnetales), with implications for seed plant phylogeny. International Journal of Plant Sciences 170(8):1031–1043. doi:10.1086/605116.

See also

Species profile at Plants of the World Online, accessed 2021.12.30.