Home > Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine > Ephedra

Description

Ephedra, also known as Ma Huang, is an herb utilized by Chinese medicine for more than 2,500 years due to its ability to remedy symptoms of asthma and upper respiratory infections. A member of the Ephedracae family of herbs (Ephedra sinica), ephedra is native to northern China and Inner Mongolia where it thrives in desert areas as a jointed, barkless plant with branches that bear few leaves and tiny yellow-green flowers that bloom in summer. While varieties of ephedra grow throughout the world, the United States version flourishes in the dry southwest.

Ephedra became popular to Mormon settlers in the early 1800s as a stimulant consumed in the form of tea in place of the coffee and black tea from which they abstained, giving the plant one of its...