General: California Jointfir (Ephedra californica) is a mid-sized, upright shrub with many dull, yellow-green to gray-green, apparently leafless stems. Individual twigs come off the stems at widely diverging angles. The leaves are reduced to scales at the stem joints arranged in sets of three. Photosynthesis takes place in the stems. Members of this plant family are cone-bearing plants more closely related to pine trees than to flowering plants. The small cones (about 1/3-inch long) can be seen in the spring.

California Jointfir is a fairly common component of vegetation communities in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones on lower-elevation, dry, rocky bajadas and canyons.

Around Las Vegas, look for California Jointfir south of town in Mojave National Preserve.

Around Las Vegas, there are six species of Jointfir. California Jointfir can be recognized by leaves in sets of three and the dull, gray-green twigs that come off the stems at widely diverging angles. Mormon Tea and Nevada Jointfir can be recognized by the two-ranked leaves. California jointfir and Death Valley Jointfir are both three-ranked species and are common in some lower-elevation areas. In California jointfir, the leaves become recurved with age, and the leaf base is swollen.

Family: Jointfir (Ephedraceae).

Other Names: Mormon tea, California ephedra, ephedra

Plant Form: Erect shrub, apparently without leaves, stems gray-green.

Height: Usually to about 3 ft high and 4-5 ft wide.

Bark: Gray, fissured.

Stems: Stems and twigs jointed. Twigs gray-green, aging to yellowish.

Leaves: Tiny scales at the stem joints in sets of three.

Flowers: Blooms in the spring. Plants are male or females. Male plants have pollen cones that grow from nodes; pollen cones elliptical to 9-mm long. Female plants have seed cones that grow from notes; seed cones nearly spherical to 12-mm diameter.

Seeds: 3 by 7 mm, brown, smooth.

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on upper bajadas and moderate slopes; rocky areas.

Elevation: To about 3,000 feet.

Distribution: Southwestern California desert.

Comments: Tea can be made by steeping the twigs in boiling water. The stems of most members of this genus contain the alkaloid ephedrine and are valuable in the treatment of asthma and other respiratory diseases.