Gnetaceae

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

Read about Gnetaceae in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Gnetaceae (from the genus Gnetum, derived from Gnemon, said to be the old Malay name of the plant). Gnetum Family. Fig. 5. Very peculiar semi-woody plants of diverse habit: leaves large and broad, or modified, or reduced, or opposite, or whorled: no resin-tubes in the stem; secondary wood containing true vessels: true flowers present, with a 2-4-parted perianth, unisexual, rarely bisexual; stamens 2-8; pistillate perianth becoming juicy or wing-like in fruit and inclosing one naked orthotropous seed with 1 or 2 integuments. The family consists of 3 genera and about 35-40 species, widely distributed. It is distinguished from the Coniferae by the presence of a perianth, the absence of resin-tubes, and the presence of vessels in the secondary wood. The endosperm development, also, approaches that of the Angiosperms. The fertilization is by means of pollen-tubes. The three genera are very distinct: Ephedra, of the tropics of both hemispheres, is much branched, with slender jointed striate equisetum-like stems, leaves scale-like at the distant nodes; Gnetum of South America, except one species, is a group of vines or shrubs with large broad leaves like those of an Angiosperm; Welwitschia of South Africa is a desert plant with a thick subterranean stem bearing two ribbon-like leaves 6 feet long, lying flat on the ground, and with a terminal cluster of cone-like flower-spikes.CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

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