Hi, all. Plant Select recommends the Chinese shrub called ma huang or blue joint-fir, Ephedra equisetina, for us Westerners. (I'm in New Mexico.) Bluish leafless stems, yellow flowers in spring, red berries in summer (maybe only if you have a female plant), extremely drought-tolerant. Strangely enough, I can't find plants at local nurseries or on the Web. Does anyone know where you can buy it?
Does anyone know why it's so hard to find? I'm getting paranoid enough to wonder whether it's because of the FDA ban on the stimulant ephedrine, which E. equisetina seems to be the best source of.