Gnetum urens

(Aubl.) Blume 1834

Common names

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Thoa urens Aubl. 1775; Gnetum thoa Brongn 1829 nom. illegit.; G. melinonii Benoist 1945 (Stevenson and Zanoni 1991).

Description

"Slender vine; twigs smooth, light grey to tan. Leaves thin, chartaceous to rarely subcoriaceous, elliptic, up to 12 × 6 cm, deflexed and acuminate to acute at apex, unequally obtuse at base, yellow-green, upper surface shining like silk, lower surface dull and sculptured with narrow primary and secondary veins (the latter less than 1 mm wide) and obscure tertiary veins. Microsporangiate axes sparingly branched, ultimate units with short internodes of 1-2 mm between bract collars. Microsporophyll barely exserted from enclosing collar. Ovule-bearing branches rarely branched, internode between bract collars up to 10 mm long. Mature seed yellow, oblongoid to slightly obovoid, often with a basal knoblike ring, sharply mucronate at apex, 35-40 mm long, 18-20 mm in diameter, outer layer thin and fibrous, inner layer chartaceous" (Stevenson and Zanoni 1991).

Distribution and Ecology

"River valleys near the coast in northern Brazil, the Guianas, and Venezuela" (Stevenson and Zanoni 1991).

Big tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

Citations

See also

Maheshwari and Vasil 1961.