13 photographs › At a glance
- Jan, shaded
- Feb, shaded
- Mar, shaded
- Apr, shaded
- May, shaded
- Jun
- Jul, shaded
- Aug, shaded
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Summary
Ephedra gerardiana (Gerard's jointfir, 山岭麻黄 shan ling ma huang) is a species of Ephedra, endemic to the mountains of Afghanistan, Bhutan, Northern India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sikkim, Tajikistan, and Tibet. It is a perennial small shrub composed primarily of fibrous stalks, generally about 8 inches though sometimes growing to 24 inches in height, with small, yellow flowers followed by round, red, edible fruits. It is sometimes used as a stimulant, and in Ayurvedic medicine its tea is used as medicine for colds, coughs, bronchitis, asthma, and arthritis.
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Ephedra gerardiana", CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cultivation
Seasons
The rain rule reads a rainy season with no name: 70% of the median year's rain (518 mm of 728 mm) falls in January to May and July to August, whose mean temperature, -3.4 °C, is within half a degree of the year's, -3.5 °C, so it is neither the cooler nor the warmer part of the year. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: January to February and July to November.
Rain
728 mm in the median year at the habitat, 518 mm of it January to May and July to August. Wettest month April at 82 mm, driest month November at 27 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 335 mm to 1,582 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 936 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 728 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.
Light
Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 49 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 55).
Warmth and air
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -24.1 °C, the absolute minimum -33.2 °C, 14,483 frost nights in 44 years, 329.2 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 10.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -19.6 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -32.1 °C to -9.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 13.7 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -24.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).
Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 60% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
How this section is made
Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.
Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +222 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.
Climate across the habitat
Habitat months, northern hemisphere
Mean daily high from -11 °C in Jan to 14 °C in Jul; mean nightly low from -20 °C in Jan to 4 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low. 728 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added), the wettest month Apr. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 19 habitat cells. Over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER) the absolute minimum was -33.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 10.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.
Figures by month
| Figure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | -11 / -24–1 | -10 / -22–6 | -7 / -17–12 | -2 / -13–17 | 5 / -8–19 | 9 / -2–21 | 14 / 4–23 | 12 / 4–23 | 9 / 1–20 | 1 / -9–16 | -4 / -16–10 | -9 / -21–2 |
| Night °C | -20 / -32–-9 | -19 / -30–-6 | -15 / -27–1 | -12 / -24–5 | -8 / -18–8 | -2 / -12–12 | 4 / -6–14 | 2 / -4–13 | -3 / -10–11 | -12 / -22–6 | -17 / -29–-2 | -19 / -31–-7 |
| Rain mm | 59 / 11–118 | 75 / 12–150 | 81 / 25–192 | 82 / 41–183 | 80 / 37–104 | 47 / 20–179 | 76 / 20–305 | 65 / 12–236 | 56 / 14–166 | 41 / 14–63 | 27 / 13–51 | 39 / 11–77 |
| DLI | 22 / 17–29 | 28 / 23–35 | 36 / 31–43 | 46 / 42–51 | 49 / 45–54 | 49 / 41–55 | 44 / 34–48 | 40 / 33–44 | 37 / 31–39 | 31 / 26–36 | 24 / 18–31 | 20 / 14–26 |
| RH % | 59 / 50–65 | 60 / 51–65 | 59 / 51–64 | 56 / 50–62 | 57 / 49–63 | 57 / 45–64 | 59 / 50–66 | 59 / 50–65 | 57 / 48–63 | 54 / 47–59 | 55 / 48–62 | 57 / 48–64 |
How this section is made
Natural habitat
How this section is made
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Subir B. Shakya, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Morten Ross, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) T R Shankar Raman, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0.
Related
Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.
Thymus linearis Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Dr. Alexey Yakovlev
Androsace rotundifolia Primulaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Ghislain118…
Eriocapitella rupicola Ranunculaceae Photo: CC BY, Ramnarayan K
Allium carolinianum Amaryllidaceae Photo: CC BY, Svyatoslav Knyazev Morina coulteriana Yellow Whorlflower 
Geranium saxatile Geraniaceae Photo: CC0, Federico BiguzziOther Ephedra 32 in the reference
Ephedra altissima High-climbing jointfir Photo: CC BY, Tom Field
Ephedra americana American Ephedra Photo: CC BY, Staci Oré
Ephedra antisyphilitica Clapweed Photo: CC BY, Jo Roberts
Ephedra aspera Boundary ephedra Photo: CC BY, Martin Purdy
Ephedra breana Ephedraceae Photo: CC0, author not stated
Ephedra californica California ephedra Photo: CC BY, Jose Luis Leon de la Luz
Ephedra chilensis Ephedraceae Photo: CC BY, Gabriela Cartes
Ephedra ciliata Shrubby Horsetail Photo: CC BY, Chase Mathey
Ephedra distachya Sea-grape Photo: CC BY, Наталья Пикалова
Ephedra equisetina Mongolian ephedra Photo: CC BY, kirinzi
Ephedra fasciculata Arizona Joint-fir Photo: CC0, author not stated
Ephedra fedtschenkoae Ephedraceae Photo: CC0, Daderot all 33 ›Names & registers
Also known as Ephedra gerardiana var. wallichii. (GBIF Backbone)
The record
Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →
Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 3 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (3 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)climate answeredasked 2026-10-22climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 28.00_86.875, lapse-corrected +222 m at 6.5 °C/kmwikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its POWO identifier 60470164-2 is Kew's for Ephedra gerardiana Wall. ex Klotzsch & Garckewikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22inat.photos.cultivated not askedgbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22commons answeredasked 2026-10-22openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshotEvery source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 34 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.