Mormon tea

1. Any of various ephedras of the western United States, traditionally used in making tea and for medicinal purposes, and containing little or no ephedrine.

2. Tea made from the stems of any of these plants.

[From its use by early Mormon settlers in the western United States.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

References in periodicals archive

Careful observation often brings into view specimens of Mormon tea (usually Ephedra trifurcata, but there are others).

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FDA issues plan to ban sale of ephedra products: linked to deaths

For colored bark or twigs, try beauty bush, corkscrew willow, mountain mahogany, Mormon tea, and redtwig and yellowtwig dogwood.

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