Ephedra distachya LC Taxonomic Authority: L.  Global Assessment  Regional Assessment Region: Global  Endemic to region Synonyms Common Names Ephedra distachya su (C.A.Mey.) Asch. & Graebn. SEA GRAPE English Ephedra distachya su (L.) Riedl SHUANG SUI MA HUANG Chinese Ephedra helvetica C.A.Mey., Monogr. Ephedra: 87 (1846).

Upper Level Taxonomy Kingdom: PLANTAE Phylum: TRACHEOPHYTA Class: GNETOPSIDA Order: EPHEDRALES Family: EPHEDRACEAE Lower Level Taxonomy Rank: Infra- rank name:  Plant Hybrid Subpopulation: Authority:

It is not certain if the plants from China and Kazakhstan are the same as those from Europe (Flora of China 2010).

General Information Distribution Occurs across southern Europe (Spain, France) to central Asia (Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Iran).

Range Size Elevation Biogeographic Realm Area of Occupancy: Upper limit: 1400  Afrotropical Extent of Occurrence: Lower limit: 0  Antarctic Map Status: Depth  Australasian Upper limit:  Neotropical Lower limit:  Oceanian Depth Zones  Palearctic  Shallow photic  Bathyl  Hadal  Indomalayan  Photic  Abyssal  Nearctic Population Depending on country, it can be rare, frequent or locally dominant.

Total Population Size Minimum Population Size: Maximum Population Size: Habitat and Ecology Dwarf shrub, found growing in a wide range of arid habitats including steppe communities, sandy areas (dunes or seaside), rocky ledges, gravelly plains, slopes. Tolerates areas where other plants are virtually non-existent. Also grows alongside grasses (Stipa, Festuca) and Artemesia communities. Flowers from April to July and fruits September to October.

System Movement pattern Crop Wild Relative  Terrestrial  Freshwater  Nomadic  Congregatory/Dispersive  Is the species a wild relative of a crop?  Marine  Migratory  Altitudinally migrant

Growth From Definition Shrub - small Perennial shrub small (<1m) or dwarf shrub, also termed a Chamaephyte (<1m)

Threats Reported to have been overgrazed in some areas. It is known to be a valuable fodder plant, grazed by sheep and goats.

Past Present Future 1 Habitat Loss/Degradation (human induced)  1.1 Agriculture  1.1.4 Livestock  1.1.4.2 Small-holder  Conservation Measures Numerous collections of E. distachya are known from botanic gardens and a sample is known to have been collected as part of the Millennium Seed Bank project. It has previously been assessed on a national scale in Hungary as part of the Red List of Hungary (Király G. et al. 2007), where it was rated as Near Threatened. The wide range of E. Distachya intersects numerous protected areas.

In Place Needed 3 Research actions  3.2 Population numbers and range  3.5 Threats  3.6 Uses and harvest levels  3.9 Trends/Monitoring  4 Habitat and site-based actions  4.4 Protected areas  4.4.1 Identification of new protected areas  5 Species-based actions  5.7 Ex situ conservation actions  5.7.2 Genome resource bank 

Countries of Occurrence

PRESENCE ORIGIN Year Breeding Non- Passage Possibly ExtinctPresence Native Introduced Re- Vagrant Origin Round Season breeding migrant extinct uncertain Introduced uncertain only season only Albania    Austria    Bosnia and Herzegovina    Bulgaria    China    Xinjiang    Croatia    Czech Republic    France    Corsica    France    Georgia    Abkhaziya    Adzhariya    Gruziya    Greece    East Aegean Is.    Greece    Hungary    Iran, Islamic Republic of    Italy    Italy    Sicily    Kazakhstan    Montenegro    Romania    Russian Federation    Altay    Krasnoyarsk    Russia East    Russia South    West Siberia    San Marino    Serbia    Serbia    Slovakia    Slovenia    Spain    Spain    Switzerland    Turkey    Turkey    Turkey-in-Europe    Turkmenistan    Ukraine    Ukraine   

General Habitats Score Description Major Importance 3 Shrubland 1UnsetSuitable 3.4 Shrubland - Temperate1Unset Suitable 3.5 Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry1Unset Suitable 4 Grassland 1UnsetSuitable 4.4 Grassland - Temperate1Unset Suitable 4.5 Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry1Unset Suitable 6 Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)1 Suitable Not applicable 8 Desert 1UnsetSuitable 8.1 Desert - Hot1Unset Suitable 8.2 Desert - Temperate1Unset Suitable Ecosystem Services  Insufficient Information available  Species provides no ecosystem services

Species Utilisation  Species is not utilised at all

Purpose / Type of Use Subsistence National International 1. Food - human  3. Medicine - human and veterinary  The stems of most members of this genus contain the alkaloid ephedrine and are valuable in the treatment of asthma and many other complaints of the respiratory system. The fruit is also edible and is eaten as a dessert (Plants for a Future 2010). The plant is also used as fodder for sheep and goats (Freitag and Maier-Stolte 1994).

Trend in the level of wild offtake/harvest in relation to total wild population numbers over the last five years: Unknown Trend in the amount of offtake/harvest produced through domestication/cultivation over the last five years: Unknown CITES status: Not listed

Livelihood Value  There is no information for this species regarding its livelihood value.

IUCN Red Listing Red List Assessment:(using 2001 IUCN system) Least Concern (LC)

Red List Criteria: Date Last Seen (only for EX, EW or Possibly EX species): Is the species Possibly Extinct?  Possibly Extinct Candidate?  Rationale for the Red List Assessment Occurs over a large range across Europe and central Asia. There is the threat of overgrazing in parts of the range, but this is not causing a decline that would trigger any of the thresholds for a threatened category. Reason(s) for Change in Red List Category from the Previous Assessment:  Genuine Change  Nongenuine Change  No Change  Genuine (recent)  New information  Taxonomy  Same category  Genuine (since first assessment)  Knowledge of Criteria  Criteria Revisio and criteria  Incorrect data used  Other  Same category but previously change in criteria Current Population Trend: Stable Date of Assessment: 17/09/2010 Name(s) of the Assessor(s): A.Bell & S.Bachman Evaluator(s): Notes:

% population decline in the past: Time period over which the past decline has been measured for applying Criterion A or C1 (in years or generations): % population decline in the future: Time period over which the future decline has been measured for applying Criterion A or C1 (in years or generations): Number of Locations: Severely Fragmented: Number of Mature Individuals:

Bibliography Flora of China, 2010, Ephedraceae, Flora of China2010, , , Freitag, H. & Maier-Stolte, M., 1994, Ephedraceae, Chorology of the trees and shrubs in south-west Asia and adjacent regions, Browicz, K., , , Peschkova, G.A., 2005, Synopsis of the Siberian Ephedra species (Ephedraceae)., Botanicheskii Zhurnal, 423-436, , Plants for a Future, 1996-2010, Plants For A Future, Earth, Plants, People., , , RBG Kew, 2009, World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, , Published on the Internet; http://www.kew.org/wcsp/, SEPASAL, 2009, Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SEPASAL), , SEPASAL, Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AB, UK, www.kew.org/ceb/sepasal,