Field Survey of Ephedra Plants in Central Asia (1). Characterization of Ephedra equisetina, Ephedra intermedia, and Their Putative Hybrids Collected in the Zaravshan Mountains of Tajikistan.

Field surveys of Ephedra plants were conducted in the Zaravshan Mountains of Tajikistan. E. equisetina, E. intermedia, and their putative hybrids were collected. They were identified based on their phenotypes and their sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) region. Sequencing and species-specific PCR analyses of their ITS1 sequences revealed six putative hybrids of E. equisetina and E. intermedia. The total ephedrine and pseudoephedrine content of most of the Ephedra samples collected in Tajikistan were higher than the 0.7% lower limit prescribed by the Japanese pharmacopoeia, 17th edition (JP17), and varied from 0.34 to 3.21% by dry weight. The total alkaloid level of E. intermedia (11E08-1) cultivated in Japan varied from 1.77 to 2.30% by dry weight, which was much higher than the 0.7% lower limit prescribed by JP17.