Canyon Country Plants
Desert: Mormon Tea (Ephedra)
Scientific Name: Ephedra viridis
Most plants photosynthesize through their leaves; Mormon tea does not. It has adapted to a desert environment by reducing its leaves to inconspicuous scale like parts and photosynthesizing through the chlorophyll in its green, jointed stems.
In the spring, when the plants set seed, they appear to be flowering plants; they are not. Mormon tea is a gymnosperm, the group of non flowering plants that includes pines and junipers. Ephedras produce small cones with males and females on separate plants. Males, whose pollen is dispersed by wind, occur on steeper, drier spots, where wind prevails. Females, which require more moisture and nutrients for seed production, occur on wetter sites.
Native people and early pioneers made a medicinal tea from the stems and leaves. Mormon Tea contains the pseudo ephedrine, a drug commonly used in nasal decongestants and closely related to ephedrine.
Photos
Notes
The main photo on this page was taken in Capitol Reef National Park.
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