Gnetaceae

Woody lianas, more rarely shrubs or trees, dioecious, branched and without resin canals. Leaves opposite, with a broad lamina and reticulate venation. Spiciform strobiles, with whorled sporophylls, interspersed with multicellular hairs and surrounded by bracts functioning like an envelope. Male sporophylls formed of a column bearing 1-2 anthers and with a tubular envelope; spherical pollen grains. Female sporophylls with cup-shaped envelope; ovule 1, sessile, with tubular integument extending beyond the envelope and also surrounded by an aril. Drupaceous seeds surrounded by the persistent cup differentiated into a fleshy outer layer and a hard inner layer, with abundant and starchy endosperm.

Worldwide: 1 genus and 44 species; more or less pantropical.

DRC: 1 genus and 1 taxon.