Shrubs rhizomatous, forming clumps, erect, 0.25--1.5 m, 3--5 m diam. Bark red-brown, cracked and irregularly fissured. Branches alternate or whorled, becoming rigid, angle of divergence about 25°. Twigs bright green, becoming yellow-green with age, not viscid, ridges between longitudinal grooves papillate, slightly scabrous; internodes 2--5 cm. Terminal buds conic, 1--3 mm. Leaves opposite, 2--5 mm, connate to 1/2--3/4 their length; bases thickened, brown, persistent, becoming hard, enlarged, and black; apex acute. Pollen cones 2--several at node, obovoid, 4--6 mm, on very short, scaly peduncles (rarely sessile); bracts opposite, 5--9 pairs, light yellow, ovate, 2--4 × 2--3 mm, membranous, slightly connate at base; bracteoles slightly exceeding bracts; sporangiophores 2--4 mm, 1/4 exserted, with 5--7 sessile to short-stalked (less than 1 mm) microsporangia. Seed cones 2--several at node, obovoid to nearly globose, 7--15 mm, on smooth peduncles, 5--25 mm, with 1 pair of basal and 1 pair of nearly terminal bracts, at least in early cones; bracts opposite, 3--4 pairs, ovate to circular, 5--8 × 5--12 mm, inner pairs becoming fleshy (at least centrally) and orange at maturity. Seeds 2, ellipsoid, 5--8 × 2--4 mm, brown to chestnut, smooth.

Coning March--April. Sandy, semiarid areas; 500--2300 m; N.Mex., Tex.

In New Mexico Ephedra coryi occurs only in an isolated population in the San Andreas Mountains and represents the shorter extreme (5--10 mm) in the range of peduncle length.