#gnetumgnemon

Gnetum gnemon is a fascinating species from the perspective of plant anatomy and convergent evolution. It is a gymnosperm so therefore not a flowering plant and more related to conifers than the broad leaved trees it resembles. The edible seeds resemble fruits or berries and are even commonly called melinjo fruit but botanically are female strobili.

Gnetum gnemon. Gnetum is a fascinating genus. It is the only genus in the family Gnetaceae and is much more closely related to Welwitschia (one of the weirdest plants on the planet) and Ephedra than to the Angiosperms that it superficially resembles. Convergent evolution fascinates me. 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. How awesome is that? I've been waiting for a while to get a decent photograph of these male strobilii. Think gymnosperm "flowers". I've photographed the female strobilii but to me they are visually less interesting. This is about as good as it gets for a geek like me. If only it ate bugs :-(.

Natural Color #gnetumgnemon #melinjo (at Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park)

#wawawawa. I just finished a long distance talk with #mama-mama #mama Papua in Wamena. I was glad to know that as members of #GriyaJatiRasaMicrofinance they have developed a store of daily supply to utilize the selling cost of the set of noken as #GriyaJatiRasaMicrofinance tries to marketing. There are 18 members of the group called Wamena Netaiken (Wamena our heart). The wooden bark clothes were made within 2 months. The bark was taken from the tree of #gnetumgnemon. They need to have a machine to make a bark line to spin more wooden cloth. So I become a model to promote their unique wooden bark cloth, the modified noken. The original noken is written on the outside of the bag, the noken. It says "Suh WMN.Meke". Wawawawa. #woodencloth #barkcloth #gnetumgnemon #GriyaJatiRasaMicrofinance #Wamena #Papua. #Kurula #wagawaga #noken.