California ephedra, cañatillo

Shrubs erect, 0.25--1 m. Bark gray-brown, cracked and irregularly fissured. Branches alternate or whorled, semiflexible to rigid, angle of divergence about 45°. Twigs yellow-green, becoming yellow, then yellow-brown with age, glaucous, with numerous very fine longitudinal grooves; internodes 3--10 cm. Terminal buds conic, 2--3 mm, apex acute. Leaves in whorls of 3, 2--6 mm, connate to 1/2--3/4 their length; bases at first membranous, then becoming thickened, completely deciduous; apex acute. Pollen cones 1--several at node, ovoid, 6--8 mm, on short, scaly peduncles; bracts in 8--12 whorls of 3, light orange-yellow, ovate, 2--3 × 2--3 mm, membranous, slightly united at base; bracteoles equaling or slightly exceeding bracts; sporangiophores 3--5 mm, exserted to 1/3 their length, with 3--7 sessile to short-stalked microsporangia. Seed cones 1--several at node, ovoid, 8--10 mm, on very short, scaly peduncles; bracts in 4--6 whorls of 3, circular, 5--7 × 5--10 mm, papery, with orange- to green-yellow center and base, slightly clawed, margins entire. Seeds 1(--2), nearly globose, 7--10 mm diam., brown, smooth.

Coning March--April. Dry slopes and fans to valley grasslands; 50--1000 m; Calif.; Mexico in Baja California.