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Ephedra Viridis (Mormon Tea) alkaloid contents?

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69ron

69ron

Esteemed member
I've used Ephedra viridis (Mormon Tea) quite a bit long ago. It was very effective.

I was doing some research and I can't find the total alkaloid contents of this plant listed anywhere.

I read that it contains pseudo-ephedrine and no ephedrine, and then I read that it contains both of these. It’s seems there’s a lot of misinformation out there about this herb.

Does anyone know what the total alkaloid content of this plant is?

Is there a place on the net where this information is found?
 
Hi 69ron,

We do need static links to websites containing relevant information about this kind of questions. Not only about this plant or this type of alkaloid but also about many values we look after so often like LogP, pKa and such.


That said, I found this (book)link (Unfortunately page 258 isn't shown. But it does state that it contains both ephedrine and pseudoephedrine):
books.google.nl

The Alkaloids: Chemistry and Pharmacology

The Alkaloids: Chemistry and Pharmacology
books.google.nl

To complement this further, I found this list somewhere in my notes:
Code: 
Table 2. Mean Levels of Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine
(Percentage of Ephedrine-E, and Pseudoephedrine-PE)

Species - Geographic Area - E - PE

Ephedra major - Spain, Sicily, Afghanistan, Pakistan - 1.9% - trace 
Ephedra sinica - Northern China to Outer Mongolia - 0.76% - 0.28% 
Ephedra equesitina - Inner Mongolia - 1.25%  -0.58% 
Ephedra intermedia - Pakistan to Mongolia - 1.15% - 0.084% 
Ephedra gerardiana - Northwest Himalayas, northern India, western Pakistan, Tibet, and Szechwan and Yunnan provinces of China - 0.77% - 0.10%

No a complete answer but I hope it helped you on the way.
 
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69Ron, It has been quite some time since I was in possession of this book about herbs, The New Age Herbalist. It was a large book packed with great facts.

I do remember quite clearly that the plant does contain a total of six alkaloids. The book claimed they worked synergistically to balance each other out. I was just getting around to the knowledge that WHOLE plants are better than its most potent alkaloids alone in certain cases. Ephedra was available in bulk at some stores where I lived a long.....long....time ago. I made tea from it quite often and enjoyed its somewhat subtler effects than ephedrine(or pseudo-ephedrine) alone. They both can be useful if one needs to remain alert, but
p-e alone often gave me trouble with leg and knee pain and some depression when without it.

I cannot recall the names of the alkaloids but will keep it in the back of my mind if I see something useful.

EDIT: I found these listed online: ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norephedrine, norpseudoephedrine, methylephedine, methylpseudoephedrine


Peace,



J
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The other more popular Ephedra is Ephedra sinica. This is known to contain a lot of ephedrine. Mormon tea (Ephedra viridis) is said by some to be void of ephedrine. Is that reference you gave in your edit (stating it contains ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norephedrine, norpseudoephedrine, methylephedine, methylpseudoephedrine) for Ephedra viridis or was it possibly Ephedra sinica?
 
I've read it contains ephedrine in trace amounts compared to sinica I swear I read somewhere the exact amount,but can't find it anymore. It was really low buying colubrina seeds hoping to get a lot of dmt,or 5-meo-dmt would be a slightly good comparison.
 
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