Desert Ephedra Bush

Entries

1. Entry 1

   Ephedra viridis is an ancient gymnosperm shrub of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau, photosynthesizing through bright green jointed stems rather than leaves, with fossil relatives reaching back 125 million years.

2. Entry 2

   Nineteenth-century Mormon pioneers in Arizona brewed the stems into a caffeine-free hot drink as a coffee substitute, giving the plant its common names Mormon tea and Brigham tea.

3. Entry 3

   Shoshone and Paiute peoples boiled the stems for tea to treat colds, kidney problems, and venereal disease, while the Navajo used the plant to produce a yellowish-green dye for woolen rugs.

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