E. intermedia

Owing to the disturbed state of China in recent years, supplies of Ephedra from that quarter have diminished and for some time were replaced by a drug of Spanish origin and later, as Spain also became involved in civil war, by supplies from India, where attentidn has been given to the five indigenous species E. intermedia Schrenk and Mayer, E. gerardiana Wall, E. nebrodensis Tineo, E. pachyclada Boiss. and E. foliata Boiss., of which the first three are of commercial importance. ... 

The world war made all these sources of supply difficult of access and stimulated interest in the possibilities of local production. Examination of a number of American species of ephedra had already shown them to be devoid of alkaloids, except for the S. American species E. andina, in which Chavezt found ephedrine, and in the United States attention has been given to the experimental cultivation of imported species, notably E. sinica and E. gerardiana a Moroccan type, E. alenda, was found to contain only ). In Australia experimental cultivation of the Indian species E. gerardiana, E. intermedia and E. nebrodensis has been tried and preliminary yields of 1-35, 1-OS and 0-98 per cent, of total alkaloids respectively have been recorded. In Russia, E. equisetina and E. intermedia are available and are considered to be worth exploitation. In Italy various local species have been found to contain mainly i -ephedrine and that in small amount, but better results are recorded for two species already referred to and which are available in Sardinia, viz. E. vulgaris Rich and E. nebrodensis. ... 

China Ephedra distachya L. E. equisetina Bunge. E. intermedia Schrenk ex Mey. E. monosperma Gmel. ex Mey. E. sinica Stapf. 1-ephedrine, 1-methylephedrine, 1-norephedrine, methylephedrine, d-pseudoephedrinem, d-N-methylpseudoephedrine.30,31 33 This herb is toxic. Treat asthma, sympathomimetic action, relieve headache, body ache, and coughing, lower fever by increasing perspiration. 

Ephedra distachya L., E. intermedia Schrenk ex Mey., E. sinica Stapf., E. monosperma Gmel. ex. Mey., E. equisetina Bunge. 

Ephedra distachya, E. equisetina, E intermedia, E. monosperma, E. sinica Sophora flavescens, S. alopecurosides Agastache rugosa, A. rugosa f. hypoleuca... 

Krishanswami and Rangaswami Ayyangar (1935) counted the haploid chromosome number to be 9 in E. indica, 18 in E. coracana, 18 in E. brevifolia, and 17 in . aegyptica, while Bisht and Mukai (2000) counted 36 chromosomes in . coracana, 18 in E. indica and E. tristachya, and 16 in E. multiflora. All these are annuals. For the perennials, E.floccifolia has 18, E. intermedia 18, and . jaegeri 20 chromosomes. Laser flow cytometry was... 

E. intermedia collected in one area and in E. gerardiana. Specimens of E. intermedia collected in other areas contained N-methylephedrine in addition, as did E. gerardiana var. sikkimensis, E. nebrodensis var. procera, an unidentified Ephedra sp., and various commercial samples of the drug Ma-Huang. The cactus Opuntia clavata has been shown to contain iV-methyltyramine. Whereas no alkaloids could be detected in a number of Thelocactus spp., seven cacti of the genus Gymnocactus were found to contain various amounts of N-methyl- -phenethylamine, in some cases accompanied by hordenine and iV-methyltyramine. ... 

E. intermedia, and E. nehrodensis has-been tried with satisfactory results (145). 

Black and Kelley (134) and Peronnet and Chatin (135) reported on the occurrence of ephedrine and -ephedrine in the North-African Ephedra alata Decnc. Massagetov (136) reported on two Russian species, E. equisetina and E. intermedia, as practical sources of ephedrine. 

Using an H-NMR device, Kim and colleagues reported that the content of the four analyzed ephedrine alkaloids in their samples was quite different, varying from 1 % to 2 % of dry weight. Among two species, E. intermedia had a lower amount of total alkaloids (0.94 %) and ephedrine content compared with pseudoephedrine than E. sinica (Table 27.4) [17]. 

Ephedrine (l/ -25-2-methylamino-l-phenylpropan-l-ol) is an adrenergic amine present in many kinds of pharmaceutical preparations, obtained by synthesis or from natural sources. Belonging to the genus Ephedra (Ephedraceae), the Chinese species Ephedra sinica and Ephedra equisetina, also known as ma huang, and the Indian and Pakistani species E. gerardiana, E. intermedia, and E. major are the... 

Stem (AuaHUANG) contains 1-2% alkaloids composed mainly of /-ephedrine and f-pseudoephedrine, with ephedrine ranging from 30% to 90%, depending on the source. Thus, E. sinica contains ca. 1.3% alkaloids with more than 60% ephedrine E. intermedia contains ca. 1.1% alkaloids with 30-40% ephedrine and E. equisetina contains ca. 1.7% alkaloids with 85-90% ephedrine. Other alkaloids include /-A-methylephedrine, (/-A-methylpseudoephedrine, /-norephedrine, /-norpseudoephedrine (cathine), ephedine, ephedroxane, and pseudoephedroxane (imm-4). The alkaloids are concentrated in the intemodes, with lesser amount (ca. 50%) in the nodes and none in the root (zhou). 

Ephredras are the dried stems of Ephedra sinica Stapf., E. intermedia Schrenk et C.A. May., or E. equisetina Bge. In TCM, ephedra is the primary component of multi-herb formulas to treat asthma and bronchitis, cold and flu, cough and wheezing, fever, chills, lack of perspiration, headache, and nasal congestion. 

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