Ephedra sinica

Ephedra sinica (also known as Chinese ephedra or ma huang) is a species of Ephedra in the plant family Ephedraceae. Native to Mongolia, northern China, and Russia, it is a shrub found on arid highland slopes, dry river beds, steppes, fields or mountain sides. E. sinica contains alkaloids, including ephedrine, which have been a basis for using the plant in traditional medicine for thousands of years. Due to concerns about alkaloid toxicity, ephedrine has been banned from the market in the European Union, United States, and many other countries....read more on Wikipedia.