ephedra sinica ephedra sinica ephedra sinica (also known as chinese ephedra or ma huang) is a species of ephedra native to mongolia, russia (buryatiya, chita, primorye), and northeastern china (gansu, hebei, heilongjiang, jilin, liaoning, nei mongol, ningxia, shaanxi, shanxi). chinese ephedra(cao ma huang—草麻黄) ephedra sinica conservation status least concern (iucn 3.1) scientific classification kingdom: plantae clade: tracheophytes clade: gymnosperms division: gnetophyta class: gnetopsida order: ephedrales family: ephedraceae genus: ephedra species: e. sinica binomial name ephedra sinicastapf synonyms ephedra flava f.p.sm. ephedra ma-huang tang s.liu uses medicinal main article: ephedra (medicine) it is the primary source of the medicinal preparation ephedra, also known by its chinese name ma huang. it has been proposed as a candidate for the legendary soma of the rigveda.