Ephedraceae
Ephedra

Ephedra ciliata Fisch. & C.A.Mey.

First published in Bull. Cl. Phys.-Math. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg 5: 36 (1845)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is N. Africa to Central Asia and India (Punjab). It is a scrambling shrub and grows primarily in the desert or dry shrubland biome.

Descriptions

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/201696/9167394

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Morphology General Habit
Plant usually scandent or almost decumbent, up to 2 m or more long, stems slightly disarticulating when dry, with white pith
Morphology Leaves
Leaves up to 10–15(–40) mm long including the ciliate sheath
Morphology Reproductive morphology Cones
Male cones with 3–4 anthers (microsporangia) Female cones usually on long, loosely-branched, this year’s twigs, ovate when young, (1–)2(–3)-seeded, with usually straight peduncles.
Distribution
N1–3 Ethiopia, and along the Red Sea coast to Sinai, Tibesti, also Arabia and eastwards to Punjab.
Ecology
Altitude range 900–1700 m.
Vernacular
Caano orle, geesarriyaad (Somali)
[FSOM]

Forest, F. et al. 2018. Gymnosperms on the EDGE. Scientific Reports 8: 6053. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-24365-4.

Conservation
Ephedra foliata is rated as Least Concerned (LC) according to IUCN Red List criteria and has received a EDGE score of -8.52, which places it in position 1025 on the EDGE Gymnosperm list. It has a Evolutionary Distinctiveness of 4, ranked 959. More information on the EDGE Gymnosperm project here https://www.edgeofexistence.org.
[EDGE]

Sources

  • EDGE Gymnosperms

    • EDGE of Existence (Gymnosperms)
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Somalia

    • Flora of Somalia
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2023. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2022 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2023. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2022 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images