GNETOPHYTA
(vessel bearing gymnosperms)

Gnetophytes are alike in certain details of vascular tissue but besides that are very different and are only distinctly related...

3 orders...

Gnetum- Mostly rain forest lianas (woody vines that occupy the forest canopy), with broad, dicot-like, opposite leaves that look like those of flowering plants.

courtesy of: http://www.wisc.edu/botit/Systematics/Phyla/Gnetophyta/Gnetum_vine.html

Welwitschia-vessels, two leaves. Bizarre resident of the driest deserts in southwestern Africa. It contains an extremely long taproot, a woody trunk up to a meter wide but it only shows a few centimeters above ground, and two strap-like leaves that grow from the trunk. This plant may live through many centuries.

courtesy of http://www.wisc.edu/botit/Systematics/Phyla/Gnetophyta/Welwitschia_plant.html

and last but not least...
Ephedra-small wiry shrubs with jointed stems and scale-like leaves. They are found in cool deserts (Europe, Asia and Americas).

courtesy of http://www.wisc.edu/botit/Systematics/Phyla/Gnetophyta/Ephedra_leaves.html

They also have many medicinal purposes. Ephedra sinica was the original source of the alkaloid ephedrine, a common decongestant in popular allergy and hay fever remedies. Pseudoephedrine occurs in species of Ephedra and is used in over-the-counter drugs such as Sudafed.

back to main page...