Ephraim is a minor character from "The Grass Route" who comes from a farming family near Ecruteak City. His parents run a flower farm using a whole bunch of Grass-type Pokémon, so naturally Ephraim grew up specializing in that type himself. He's the one who talked Ash into entering his Bulbasaur in the local Grass Tournament.
The tournament came down to Ephraim versus Ash in the finals. Ephraim's Skiploom was struggling against Bulbasaur until it pulled off a clutch move—learning Solar Beam right in the heat of battle and using it to secure the win. As the tournament champion, Ephraim won a stash of Leaf Stones, which he planned to use for evolving his parents' Pokémon back on the farm.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
