mahuang

Various Asian plants, particularly ma huang (Ephedra sinica), have been used as sources of the drug ephedrine. Ephedra has been a common herbal medicine in China for thousands of years, and several species are important in Ayurvedic medicine. Ephedrine is prescribed for colds, to break a fever and induce…

…Ephedra, particularly the Chinese species E. sinica, and it has been used in China for more than 5,000 years to treat asthma and hay fever. It is effective when administered orally, and its effects persist for several hours, in contrast to the shorter-acting norepinephrine. Since the 1920s synthetic ephedrine has…

The herb mahuang (Ephedra vulgaris) has been used in China for at least 4,000 years, and the isolation of the alkaloid ephedrine from it has greatly improved the Western treatment of asthma and similar conditions.