It is native to the Mojave Desert of California, Arizona and Nevada.

It is named after a population in the Funeral Mountains, in Death Valley National Park.

The Ephedra funerea shrub is made up of erect twigs which are gray-green when new and age to gray and cracked.

There are tiny leaves at nodes along the twigs.

Male plants produce pollen cones at the nodes which are up to 8 millimeters long, and female plants produce seed cones which are slightly longer and may grow on stalks.