Ephedra major Host
E. nebrodensis Tineo, E. villarsii Gren. & Godr., E. atlantica Andr.
Eng.: Ephedra. Spa.: Efedra fina, arnacho fino. Fre.: Ephèdre des monts Nébrodes. Ara.: Dil el maïz. Tam.: Aulu uid, amater. Tamahaq: Tamart.
Evergreen shrub, dioecious, upto 3 m in height, which usually grows as one ± upright trunk and then, just above the soil, branches intensely and densely upwards, very straightly. In the high mountain it is usually much shorter, frequently taking a hemispherical shape. Trunk and main branches with grey bark. Branchlets a dull green, cylindrical, very thin (0.4-0.8 mm diameter) always erect, that do not break as in E. fragilis. Leaves minute (1-3 mm) 2/3 of the leaf base fused at the start of the internodes, membranous. Male cones sessile, yellowish, 2-4 mm in diameter, solitary or grouped into 2 to 4 pairs forming opposing globose clusters. Female cones solitary, opposite, briefly pedunculate. Galbuli subglobose (5-7 mm), with red or yellowish fleshy bracts that almost completely enclose the seed, which is brown and ovoid or oblong.
Flowering:
In spring.
Fruiting:
In summer.
Habitat:
Mountain forest, thickets, rocky outcrops, siliceous and calcareous soils, with semiarid to subhumid climate, from 800 to 3,000 m.
Distribution:
Mediterranean region, Macaronesian region and western Asia. In North Africa, it grows from the Atlantic to Tunisia and from the Mediterranean to the mountains of the central Sahara (Tassili-n-Ajjer, Ahaggar, Tefedest, always in the highest areas). Var. suggarica Maire is distributed in the mountains of Ahaggar from 2,100 to 2,900 m altitude.
Observations:
A very similar species is E. pachyclada Boiss. (Ara. Egypt: Alda, adam), A species of western Asia that reaches W to the Sinai Peninsula, where the subsp. sinaica (Riedl) Freitag & Maier-St. grows. It differs from E. major essentially by its smaller size, up to 1 (1.5) m in height, thicker stems (up to 4-6 mm) and greenish-ashen branches. It grows mainly in forests, thickets and desert areas, with an overall distribution from about 120 m to about 4,800 m.
Another similar species is E. tilhoana Maire, of smaller size, shrublet up to 80 cm, erect and highly branching, with ashen branches and brown, scabrid leaves. Only 2 populations are known in the Emi Koussi and Touside Mounts in the Tibesti Massif (Chad) between 2,000 and 2,600 m. Its small size may be due to growing in the Saharan high mountain peaks, rather than to its natural form. A further study of this taxon would be beneficial.
Conservation status:
In the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species E. major and E. pachyclada are listed at a global level as Least Concern (LC), while the lack of information for E. tilhoana makes this species Data Deficient (DD) (Bell & Bachman, 2011). In the Red List of vascular plants of Egypt (Flora Aegyptiaca Vol 1, 2000) E. pachyclada is listed as “Endangered”.