Ephedra sarcocarpa
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).
"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."
Afghanistan; Pakistan: Baluchistan (Ali and Qaiser 1987).
No data as of 2023.03.03.
See the observations on iNaturalist, accessed 2021.12.30.
The epithet sarcocarpa means "fleshy-seeded".
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.
Species profile at Plants of the World Online, accessed 2021.12.30.
Last Modified 2023-03-03