The Ephedra viridis shrub is woody below, topped with many dense clusters of erect bright green twigs.

Nodes along the twigs are marked by the tiny pairs of vestigial leaves, which start out reddish but soon dry to brown or black.

[3] Male plants produce pollen cones at the nodes, each under a centimeter long with protruding yellowish sporangiophores.

[4] However, a gas chromatograph analysis of samples conducted by Richard F. Keeler found no measurable amount of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norephedrine, or norpseudoephedrine.

[6][7] Native American tribes such as the Shoshone and Paiute boiled tea using the stem of the plant and combined it with the bark of Purshia tridentata, another shrub.