Plant shrubby, f erect, up to 1.5 m tall; branches and branchlets slender, striate, smooth. Male cones subglobose, 4‑5 mm long; anthers 6‑8. Female cones erect; flower solitary; bracts 2‑3 pairs, the inner connate below the middle. Tubillus c. 2.5 mm long, straight. Berry red, ovoid to subglobose. Seed one, c.5 mm long, oblong‑ovoid.

Type: Caucasus: Ad ripam dextram torrentis Terek, inter Darial et Kasbek, Kolen & Fritsche (LE).

Often considered as a subspecies or variety of the Mediterranean E. major Host. The plant is medicinal and is used for the extraction of Ephedrine; Distribution: Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, Armenia, Kurdistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan (Baluchistan); Himalaya.