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Abstract

Ephedra plants are among the oldest and most popular herbs used in traditional medicine in China and Japan [1][2][3]. Ephedrae herba has long been used as both medicine and food [4,5]. It stands as an efficient anti-stroke herbal medicine [6]. Its use as a folk phytomedicine is mentioned in ancient medical books and traditional prescriptions [3]. For example, the ancient Chinese medical book "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" refers to the classic traditional Chinese medicine prescription Ge Gen decoction, which consists of seven herbs, including an Ephedra species [7], and a Latin textbook from the roman naturalist Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus, AD 23-79) underlined the use of Ephedra as follows: "it is given from black austere wine, crushed, for coughs, sighs, convulsions, and drinking" [8]. For decades, Ephedra species have provided herbal remedies to treat human diseases [9,10]. These medicinal