Ephedra sinica LC Taxonomic Authority: Stapf  Global Assessment  Regional Assessment Region: Global  Endemic to region Synonyms Common Names ma-huang Liu CAO MA HUANG Chinese CHINESE EPHEDRA English MA-HUANG Chinese

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

General Information Distribution Distributed across southern Siberia, Mongolia and .

Range Size Elevation Biogeographic Realm Area of Occupancy: Upper limit: 1600  Afrotropical Extent of Occurrence: Lower limit: 400  Antarctic Map Status: Depth  Australasian Upper limit:  Neotropical Lower limit:  Oceanian Depth Zones  Palearctic  Shallow photic  Bathyl  Hadal  Indomalayan  Photic  Abyssal  Nearctic Population Exact populaiton size not known, but recorded as dominant in some areas. Reported as occasional in Chita and rare in Buryatia, Russia (Peschkova 2005).

Total Population Size Minimum Population Size: Maximum Population Size: Habitat and Ecology Shrub, found in arid areas and highlands, occurring on slopes, dry river beds, sandy places, or fields on mountainsides. In Russia, found in Stipa steppe habitat and occasionally birch forests. Flowering from April to June, fruiting from July.

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 Widely used in Chinese herbal medicine, known as Ma Huang. Ma huang is cultivated in China, but wild populations may also be harvested.

Past Present Future 3 Harvesting (hunting/gathering)  3.2 Medicine  3.2.1 Subsistence use/local trade  3.2.2 Sub-national/national trade  3.2.3 Regional/international trade  Conservation Measures Known to occur in numerous botanic gardens, although no seed is known to have been collected for ex-situ conservation purposes. Its wide range 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  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 China                   Nei Monggol          Mongolia    Russian Federation    Buryatiya    Chita    General Habitats Score Description Major Importance 6 Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)1 Suitable Not applicable

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  14. Research  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 ( for a Future 2010). Ma-huang has been used in Chinese herbal medicine for thousands of years as a treatment for various ailments. More recently a significant market has developed for Ma Huang as a nutritional supplement and stimulant.

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

Primary Product

Scale of Assessment: National Name of Location/Country/Region: China Date: Description of product (eg. skin, meat, horn, fibre, etc.): stems For Single Species Harvest When Part of a Multi-species Harvest for this Product: Estimated annual harvest of the product: Estimated annual multi-species harvest: Not Known Units: Units: The species contribution to the total harvest (%): Users Amount of this species within multi-species harvest: Primary level of human reliance on the product: Optional alternative Who are the primary harvesters of this resource? By gender/age? Not known By socio-economic group? Not known Specify other: Value to Livelihoods Proportion (%) of total population benefiting from this product: Not known Proportion (%) of household consumption (if dietary as a % of protein/carbohydrate) for this product: Not known Proportion (as a %) of household income for this product: Not known Value to Economy Annual cash income from this product - gross (in US$): 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 E. sinica (Ma Huang) occurs over a large area in central Asia. It has been extensively utilised in Chinese herbal medicine for many hundereds of years. Although widely cultivated, the status of wild populations needs to be monitored to understand whether harvesting is a significant threat. 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: 20/09/2010 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 Caveney,S., Charlet, D.A., Freitag,H., Maier-Stolte, M., Starratt, A.N., 2001, New Observations on the Secondary Chemistry of World Ephedra (Ephedraceae), American Journal of Botany7, 1199-1208, , 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/,