Joint fir occurs as genus of gymnosperm shrubs, the lone genus in the personal Ephedraceae & sequentially Ephedrales. These plants occur within dry climates on top the wide front yard principally in the Northern Hemisphere, across southern Europe, north Africa, southwest and central Asia, southwestern North America, and, in the Southern Hemisphere, in South America south to Patagonia. It is besides known as Joint-pine, Jointfir, or even Mormon-tea. A Chinese name is 麻黄, ma huang, which means "yellow hemp". Joint fir is too for instance known as sea grape (from either a French raisin delaware k), although that is likewise the most common title for Coccoloba uvifera.

Species
A charted listing of coinage is from either a [http://www.botanik.uni-bonn.de/conifers/ep/ep/index.htm Gymnosperm Database] web page for Joint fir. Joint fir alata Decne Joint fir altissima Desf. Joint fir antisyphilitica Berl. passe C.The.Meyer - Clapweed, Erect Ephedra Joint fir aspera Engelm. passee S.Wats. - Boundary Joint fir, Pitamoreal Joint fir californica S.Wats. - California Ephedra, California Jointfir Joint fir coryi E.L.Reed - Cory's Ephedra Joint fir cutleri Peebles - Navajo Ephedra, Cutler's Joint fir, Cutler Mormon-tea, Cutler's Jointfir Joint fir distachya L. - Joint-pine, Jointfir Joint fir distachya subsp. sans serif (C.The.Meyer) Aschers. & Graebn. Joint fir equisetina Bunge - Ma huang Joint fir fasciculata The.Nels. - Arizona Ephedra, Arizona Jointfir, Waste Mormon-tea Joint fir fedtschenkoae Pauls. Joint fir fragilis Desf. Joint fir fragilis subsp. campylopoda (C.The.Meyer) Aschers. & Graebn. Joint fir frustillata Miers - Patagonian Ephedra Joint fir funerea Hediondilla & Morton - Death Valley Ephedra, Death Valley Jointfir Joint fir gerardiana Wallich antique C.The.Meyer - Gerard's Jointfir, Shan Ling Ma Huang Joint fir intermedia Schrenk demode C.The.Meyer Joint fir lepidosperma C.Y.Cheng Joint fir likiangensis Florin Joint fir macedonica Kos. Joint fir major Host Joint fir major subsp. procera Fischer & C.A.Meyer Joint fir minuta Florin Joint fir monosperma C.The.Meyer *Joint fir nevadensis S.Wats. - Nevada Ephedra, Nevada Jointfir, Nevada Mormon-tea Joint fir pedunculata Engelm. demode S.Wats. - Vine Joint fir, Vine Jointfir Joint fir przewalskii Stapf Joint fir przewalskii volt-ampere. kaschgarica (B.Fedtsch. & Bobr.) C.Y.Cheng Joint fir regeliana Florin - Xi Zi Ma Huang Joint fir saxatilis (Stapf) Royle passe Florin Ephedra sinica Stapf - Ma Huang, Chinese ephedra Joint fir torreyana S.Wats. - Torrey's Joint fir, Torrey's Jointfir, Torrey's Mormon-tea, Cañutillo Joint fir trifurca Torrey passee S.Wats. - Longleaf Ephedra, Longleaf Jointfir, Longleaf Mormon-tea, Popotilla, Teposote Joint fir viridis Coville - Green Ephedra, Green Mormon-tea

Uses and health concerns
These plants keep close at h& traditionally been utilized by autochthonous humans for the kind of medicative purposes, and come the in all likelihood candidate for the Soma plant of Indo-Iranian religion. A alkaloids ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are the active constituents of the plant. Occasionally coinage in the Joint fir genus keep around zero alkaloid content & come so fundamentally inert, but a virtually all unremarkably utilized coinage, E. sinica, has the number alkaloid content of One-3% by dry weight. Ephedrine constitues 40-90% of a alkaloid content, by having a remainder consisting of pseudoephedrine & the demethylated forms of both [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/Organizations/DDIL/ephedrine.html]. Ephedrine is considered the performance-enhancing drug & is prohibited around virtually all competitory sports.

Beginning in the 1990s, concerns about a safety of Joint fir & Ephedra-depending products began to become publicly raised. When Joint fir occurs as herb, products containing it were marketed as dietary supplements and therefore were exempt from either FDA regulation in the United States. Joint fir was obtained around numerous popular weight control products, some of which a FDA believed can be wild. Sympathomimetic amines such as ephedrine raise heart rate & blood pressure & may be particularly risky to victims by using pre-existing cardiac problems.

Based in data from a FDA, 155 deaths may be blamed on Joint fir, virtually all of the babies related to cardiac problems & strokes. All the same, numbers of advocates of Joint fir maintain that these are safe once utilized every bit directed, & prove my point to regard it as a dietetic supplement like than as a drug. Health food store GNC banned ephedra-containing products in June 2003, & a National Football League banned players from utilizing it as a dietetical supplement inside 2001.

In December 30 2003, the United states Food and Drug Administration announced a ban (efficacious from either 12 April 2004) on the uncontrolled sale of supplement products containing Joint fir, citing "an unreasonable risk of illness or injury" from either a apply of the drug. Synthetic ephedrine is however available as an ingredient within occasionally over the counter (OTC) medications that are clearly labeled within accordance using FDA regulations. Bulk joint fir herb (like that utilized within traditional Chinese medicine) non specifically marketed for individual consumption is not under a jurisdiction of the FDA & is so insensible. Many states use enacted their have laws on a low of joint fir & ephedra-depending products, a select few nonindulgent than a non-statutory FDA regulation.

In 14 April 2005, this ban was struck down in procedural evidence by Utah federal judge Tena Campbell [http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/04/14/ephedra.suit.ap/index.html]. Nevertheless, when of July 2005, diet supplement manufacturers, including a super company that challenged a joint fir ban inside court, come however reluctant to reintroduce joint fir into their line of business.

In the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the Argentine footballer Diego Armando Maradona tested positive for ephedrine within a doping control for utilizing 1 dietetic supplement product containing the substance.