Gnetum

Gnetum
	Gnetum luofuense in China
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Gymnospermae
Division:	Gnetophyta
Order:	Gnetales; Mart
Family:	Gnetaceae; Blume
Genus:	Gnetum; L.
Type species
	Gnetum gnemon; L.
	Distribution
Synonyms
	Gnemon Rumph. ex Kuntze; Thoa Aubl.; Abutua Lour.; Arthostema Neck.;

Gnetum is a genus of gymnosperms, the sole genus in the family Gnetaceae within the Gnetophyta. They are tropical evergreen trees, shrubs and lianas. Unlike other gymnosperms, they possess vessel elements in the xylem. Some species have been proposed to have been the first plants to be insect-pollinated as their fossils occur in association with extinct pollinating scorpionflies.^[2] Molecular phylogenies based on nuclear and plastid sequences from most of the species indicate hybridization among some of the Southeast Asian species. Fossil-calibrated molecular-clocks suggest that the Gnetum lineages now found in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia are the result of ancient long-distance dispersal across seawater.^[3]^[4]

Their leaves are rich in phytochemicals such as flavonoids and stilbenes. Of the species studied so far, Gnetum have photosynthetic and transpiration capacities which are considerably lower than those of other seed plants, due to the absence of multiple chloroplast genes essential for photosynthesis, a trait they seem to share with the other living members of Gnetophyta, Ephedra and Welwitschia, as well as conifers.^[5] There are over 50 different species of Gnetum.^{[citation needed]}

Species

Phylogeny of Gnetum^[6]

subsection Araeognemones

subsection Micrognemones

section Gnetum

section Scandentia

subsection Gnemonoides

	subsection Stipitati

	subsection Sessiles

Phylogeny of Gnetum^[7]^[8]

section	G. buchholzianum Engler
Micrognemones

G. africanum (de Loureiro) Welwitsch

section

subsection

	G. costatum Schum.

	G. gnemon von Linné

Gnetum

subsection

	G. raya Markgraf

	G. gnemonoides Brongniart

Gnemonoides

subsection

	G. leyboldii Tulasne

	G. nodiflorum Brongniart

G. schwackeanum Taubert & Schenck ex Taubert & Markgraf

G. paniculatum Spruce ex Bentham

	G. camporum (Markgraf) Stevenson & Zanoni

	G. urens (Aublet) Blume

Araeognemones

Gnetum

section

G. microcarpum Blume

	G. diminutum Markgraf

	G. klossii Merrill ex Markgraf

subsection

G. parvifolium (Warburg) Cheng

G. luofuense Cheng

G. indicum (de Loureiro) Merrill

	G. hainanense Cheng ex Fu, Yu & Gilbert

	G. montanum Markgraf

Stipitati

subsection

G. macrostachyum Hooker

G. latifolium Blume

G. edule (Willdenow) Blume

	G. neglectum Blume

	G. leptostachyum Blume

G. ula Brongniart

	G. tenuifolium Ridley

	G. cuspidatum Blume

Sessiles

Scandentia

There are around 50 different species of Gnetum. The Catalogue of Life lists 44 species.^[9]

Gnetum interruptum Biye
Gnetum latispicum Biye
Gnetum sect. Gnetum
- Gnetum subsect. Gnetum – 2 species of trees; Southeast Asia, Pacific Islands
  - Gnetum gnemon – Tibet, Yunnan, Assam, Indochina, Nicobar Islands, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, New Guinea, Melanesia, Micronesia
  - Gnetum costatum – New Guinea, Solomon Islands
- Gnetum subsect. Micrognemones – 2 species of lianas; tropical west Africa
  - Gnetum africanum – central Africa from Cameroon to Angola
  - Gnetum buchholzianum – central Africa from Nigeria to Zaire
- Gnetum subsect. Araeognemones – 9 species of lianas; tropical South America and Central America - Ituá
  - Gnetum camporum – Venezuela
  - Gnetum leyboldii – Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Amazonian Brazil
  - Gnetum nodiflorum – Guianas, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, northwestern Brazil
  - Gnetum paniculatum – Guianas, Venezuela, northwestern Brazil
  - Gnetum schwackeanum – Amazonas State of southern Venezuela, northwestern Brazil
  - Gnetum urens – Guianas, Venezuela, Peru, northwestern Brazil
  - Gnetum venosum – Bolívar State of southern Venezuela, northwestern Brazil
Gnetum sect. Scandentia [Gnetum sect. Cylindrostachys] - about 20 species of lianas; southern Asia
- Gnetum subsect. Stipitati
  - Gnetum arboreum – Luzon in Philippines
  - Gnetum contractum – southern India
  - Gnetum edule – southern India
  - Gnetum gracilipes – Yunnan + Guangxi in China
  - Gnetum latifolium – Assam, much of Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago
  - Gnetum montanum – Himalayas, southern China, northern Indochina
  - Gnetum oblongum – Bangladesh, Myanmar
  - Gnetum pendulum – Tibet, southern China
  - Gnetum tenuifolium – Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra
  - Gnetum ula
- Gnetum subsect. Sessiles
  - Gnetum acutum – Sarawak
  - Gnetum bosavicum – Papua New Guinea
  - Gnetum catasphaericum – southern China
  - Gnetum chinense Yang, Liu, & Chang – northern China
  - Gnetum cleistostachyum – southern China
  - Gnetum cuspidatum – Indochina, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines
  - Gnetum diminutum – Borneo
  - Gnetum formosum – Vietnam
  - Gnetum giganteum – Guangxi in China
  - Gnetum globosum – Pahang in Malaysia
  - Gnetum gnemonoides – New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Indonesia, Philippines
  - Gnetum hainanense – southern China
  - Gnetum klossii – Sabah
  - Gnetum leptostachyum – Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo
  - Gnetum loerzingii – Sumatra
  - Gnetum luofuense – Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi
  - Gnetum macrostachyum – Indochina, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Guinea
  - Gnetum microcarpum – Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra
  - Gnetum neglectum – Borneo
  - Gnetum oxycarpum – Sumatra
  - Gnetum parvifolium – Laos, Vietnam, southern China
  - Gnetum raya – Borneo
  - Gnetum ridleyi – Peninsular Malaysia

Uses

Many Gnetum species are edible, with the seeds being roasted, and the foliage used as a leaf vegetable.^[10] The plant is harvested and yields a useful fiber.^{[clarification needed]} There is no sense of danger in consuming the fruit or the seeds.^[11]

There is also a study done on the plant to see if it has any medicinal properties, finding some anti-coagulation effects due to its stilbenoid content. The family Gnetaceae is well known as a rich source of plant-derived stilbenoids as well as Cyperaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Fabaceae, and Vitaceae.^[12]

Conservation

Some species of Gnetum are in danger of dying out. The habitats are being removed with the trees being cut down to create industry. The tropical rainforest are being destroyed so many of the species are going extinct such as Gnetum oxycarpum. The rainforests are being torn down and being turned into farmland. Gnetum live in only a small part of the rainforest.

Gallery

Gnetum gnemon carpellate/female cones
Gnetum latifolium staminate/male cones
Gathered leaves of Gnetum africanum
Gnetum gnemon seeds

References

^ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
^ Ren, Dong; Labandeira, Conrad C.; Santiago-Blay, Jorge A.; Rasnitsyn, Alexandr; Shih, Chungkun; Bashkuev, Alexei; Logan, M. Amelia V.; Hotton, Carol L.; Dilcher, David (2009). "A Probable Pollination Mode Before Angiosperms: Eurasian, Long-Proboscid Scorpionflies". Science. 326 (5954): 840–847. Bibcode:2009Sci...326..840R. doi:10.1126/science.1178338. PMC 2944650. PMID 19892981.
^ Won, Hyosig; Renner, Susanne S. (2005). "The internal transcribed spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA in the gymnosperm Gnetum". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 36 (3): 581–597. Bibcode:2005MolPE..36..581W. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.03.011. PMID 16099382.
^ Won, Hyosig; Renner, Susanne S. (2006). "Dating Dispersal and Radiation in the Gymnosperm Gnetum (Gnetales)—Clock Calibration when Outgroup Relationships Are Uncertain". Systematic Biology. 55 (4): 610–622. doi:10.1080/10635150600812619. PMID 16969937.
^ Deng, N.; Hou, C.; Liu, C.; Li, M.; Bartish, I.; Tian, Y.; Chen, W.; Du, C.; Jiang, Z.; Shi, S. (2019). "Significance of Photosynthetic Characters in the Evolution of Asian Gnetum (Gnetales)". Frontiers in Plant Science. 10: 39. doi:10.3389/fpls.2019.00039. PMC 6370715. PMID 30804953.
^ Hou, Chen; Humphreys, Aelys M.; Thureborn, Olle; Rydin, Catarina (April 2015). "New insights into the evolutionary history of Gnetum (Gnetales)". Taxon. 64 (2): 239–253. doi:10.12705/642.12.
^ Stull, Gregory W.; Qu, Xiao-Jian; Parins-Fukuchi, Caroline; Yang, Ying-Ying; Yang, Jun-Bo; Yang, Zhi-Yun; Hu, Yi; Ma, Hong; Soltis, Pamela S.; Soltis, Douglas E.; Li, De-Zhu; Smith, Stephen A.; Yi, Ting-Shuang; et al. (2021). "Gene duplications and phylogenomic conflict underlie major pulses of phenotypic evolution in gymnosperms". Nature Plants. 7 (8): 1015–1025. bioRxiv 10.1101/2021.03.13.435279. doi:10.1038/s41477-021-00964-4. PMID 34282286. S2CID 232282918.
^ Stull, Gregory W.; et al. (2021). "main.dated.supermatrix.tree.T9.tre". Figshare. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.14547354.v1.
^ "Gnetum L." Catalogue of Life. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
^ Hoe, V.B. and Siong, K.H., "The Nutritional Value of Indigenous Fruits and Vegetables in Sarawak,"Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 8, no. 1, 1998, pp 24-31
^ "Gnetum gnemon | plant | Britannica". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
^ Kloypan, Chiraphat; Jeenapongsa, Rattima; Sri-In, Piyawit; Chanta, Surin; Dokpuang, Dech; Tip-Pyang, Santi; Surapinit, Nattanan (2012). "Stilbenoids from Gnetum macrostachyum Attenuate Human Platelet Aggregation and Adhesion". Phytotherapy Research. 26 (10): 1564–1568. doi:10.1002/ptr.4605. PMID 22511550. S2CID 43249684.

External links

Gymnosperm Database - Gnetum
Sorting Gnetum names
Uses of Gnetum in Africa (FAO) Archived January 11, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
Kloypan, Chiraphat & Jeenapongsa, Rattima & Sri-In, Piyawit & Chanta, Surin & Dokpuang, Dech & Tip-Pyang, Santi & Surapinit, Serm. (2012). Stilbenoids from Gnetum macrostachyum Attenuate Human Platelet Aggregation and Adhesion. Phytotherapy research : PTR. 26. 1564–8. 10.1002/ptr.4605.
https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1537-2197.1916.tb05408.x Archived December 22, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-334161...

Gnetum in West African plants – A Photo Guide.

[1] Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families

[Ren-2009-2] Ren, Dong; Labandeira, Conrad C.; Santiago-Blay, Jorge A.; Rasnitsyn, Alexandr; Shih, Chungkun; Bashkuev, Alexei; Logan, M. Amelia V.; Hotton, Carol L.; Dilcher, David (2009). "A Probable Pollination Mode Before Angiosperms: Eurasian, Long-Proboscid Scorpionflies". Science. 326 (5954): 840–847. Bibcode:2009Sci...326..840R. doi:10.1126/science.1178338. PMC 2944650. PMID 19892981.

[Won-2005-3] Won, Hyosig; Renner, Susanne S. (2005). "The internal transcribed spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA in the gymnosperm Gnetum". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 36 (3): 581–597. Bibcode:2005MolPE..36..581W. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.03.011. PMID 16099382.

[Won-2006-4] Won, Hyosig; Renner, Susanne S. (2006). "Dating Dispersal and Radiation in the Gymnosperm Gnetum (Gnetales)—Clock Calibration when Outgroup Relationships Are Uncertain". Systematic Biology. 55 (4): 610–622. doi:10.1080/10635150600812619. PMID 16969937.

[5] Deng, N.; Hou, C.; Liu, C.; Li, M.; Bartish, I.; Tian, Y.; Chen, W.; Du, C.; Jiang, Z.; Shi, S. (2019). "Significance of Photosynthetic Characters in the Evolution of Asian Gnetum (Gnetales)". Frontiers in Plant Science. 10: 39. doi:10.3389/fpls.2019.00039. PMC 6370715. PMID 30804953.

[6] Hou, Chen; Humphreys, Aelys M.; Thureborn, Olle; Rydin, Catarina (April 2015). "New insights into the evolutionary history of Gnetum (Gnetales)". Taxon. 64 (2): 239–253. doi:10.12705/642.12.

[7] Stull, Gregory W.; Qu, Xiao-Jian; Parins-Fukuchi, Caroline; Yang, Ying-Ying; Yang, Jun-Bo; Yang, Zhi-Yun; Hu, Yi; Ma, Hong; Soltis, Pamela S.; Soltis, Douglas E.; Li, De-Zhu; Smith, Stephen A.; Yi, Ting-Shuang; et al. (2021). "Gene duplications and phylogenomic conflict underlie major pulses of phenotypic evolution in gymnosperms". Nature Plants. 7 (8): 1015–1025. bioRxiv 10.1101/2021.03.13.435279. doi:10.1038/s41477-021-00964-4. PMID 34282286. S2CID 232282918.

[8] Stull, Gregory W.; et al. (2021). "main.dated.supermatrix.tree.T9.tre". Figshare. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.14547354.v1.

[col-9] "Gnetum L." Catalogue of Life. Retrieved October 24, 2024.

[10] Hoe, V.B. and Siong, K.H., "The Nutritional Value of Indigenous Fruits and Vegetables in Sarawak,"Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 8, no. 1, 1998, pp 24-31

[11] "Gnetum gnemon | plant | Britannica". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 2, 2022.

[12] Kloypan, Chiraphat; Jeenapongsa, Rattima; Sri-In, Piyawit; Chanta, Surin; Dokpuang, Dech; Tip-Pyang, Santi; Surapinit, Nattanan (2012). "Stilbenoids from Gnetum macrostachyum Attenuate Human Platelet Aggregation and Adhesion". Phytotherapy Research. 26 (10): 1564–1568. doi:10.1002/ptr.4605. PMID 22511550. S2CID 43249684.

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