Jointed and nearly leafless desert shrub having reduced scalelike leaves and reddish fleshy seeds
(Noun)
Synonyms:
joint fir
Ephedra Sentence Examples
Good pasture grounds are only found near the streams. The soil is dry gravel and clay, upon which bushes of Ephedra, Nitraria and Salsolaceae grow sparsely.
The genus Ephedra, with its prothallus and archegonia, which are similar to those of other Gymnosperms, may be safely regarded as the most primitive of the Gnetales.
In Ephedra helvetica, as described by Jaccard, no proembryo or suspensor is formed; but the most vigorous fertilized egg, after undergoing several divisions, becomes attached to a tissue, termed the columella, which serves the purpose of a primary suspensor; the columella appears to be formed by the lignification of certain cells in the central region of the embryo-sac. At a later stage some of the cells in the upper (micropylar) end of the embryo divide and undergo considerable elongation, serving the purpose of a secondary suspensor.
The secondary wood of Ephedra consists of tracheids, vessels and parenchyma; the vessels are characterized by their wide lumen and by the large simple or slightly-bordered pits on their oblique end-walls.
In Gnetum Gnemon, as described by Lotsy, a mature embryo-sac contains in the upper part a large central vacuole and a peripheral layer of protoplasm, including several nuclei, which take the place of the archegonia of Ephedra; the lower part of the embryo-sac, separated from the upper by a constriction, is full of parenchyma.
