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# Ephedra distachya as the possible basis of the haoma drink of the Saka tribes
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/vse-kto-pomnit-pervye-stroki-moei-knigi-v-kotorykh-upominaetsia-napitok-khaoma-i-tak-i-ne-uznali-chto-eto-za-bodriashchee-pitie-zapomnite-etu-travku-vstrechaetsia-ona-vo-mnogikh-zemliak/
- Published: 2021-08-10T07:10:14.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:56:50.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: The East, Books, Observations, Nature

For all who remember the opening lines of my [book](https://theparnassian.com/rebiata-vsem-kto-interesuetsia-gde-prodaetsia-moia-kniga-krome-internet-magazinov-labirint-ozon-book24-skidka-15-pro-promokodu-peresmeshnik-myshop-i-litres-sovsem-skoro-dolzhna-poiavits/?ref=theparnassian.com), where the drink haoma is mentioned, and never learnt what this bracing tipple was: remember this little herb, which grows in many lands of Eurasia. This handsome plant goes by many names: Kuzmich's grass, steppe raspberry, soma and, of course, haoma. In scientific parlance it is ephedra, the twin-spiked ephedra. It is held that it was from this very plant that the Saka tribes, known as the Haumavarga, brewed the bracing drink haoma, descriptions of which also appear in the sacred Zoroastrian texts. The drink was credited with miraculous and even divine properties. The berries of the steppe raspberry are, for that matter, genuinely medicinal, and edible too; they are admittedly far from honey on the palate, but given the conditions in which the berry ripens, they are nothing short of a marvel

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_4728@10-08-2021_10-10-14.jpg)