Photos of Mormon Tea in the Superstition Mountain Wilderness

Native Americans and Mormon pioneers drank a tea brewed from Ephedra trifurca, called Mormon Tea. However, North American ephedras lack the alkaloids ephedrine and pseudoephedrine found in Asian species of Ephedra such as Ephedra sinica. Mormon tea is said to have a bitter piney taste.

-- based on the Wikipedia article at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephedra

The FDA warns: The names desert herb, squaw tea, Brigham tea, and Mormon tea refer to North American species of Ephedra that do not contain ephedrine alkaloids but the names have been misused to identify ephedrine alkaloid containing ingredients.