Anatomy of Gnetum africanum . 1 
BY 
AUGUSTA V. DUTHIE. 
With Plates LVII-LIX. 
T HE following account of the anatomy of Gnetum africanum is based 
on material collected by Professor H. H. W. Pearson in Montobello, 
on April 7, 1909. My thanks are due to Professor Pearson for handing 
over the material to me for investigation, and for much helpful advice with 
regard to the work. 
In view of the systematic position of G 7 ietum and the difficulty of 
obtaining suitable material for investigation, it seemed worth while to place 
on record the facts ascertained with regard to the anatomy. 
Brief Review of the more important Published Work 
on Gnetum Anatomy. 
Griffith’s ‘ Remarks on Gnetum ’, which appeared in the Linnean 
Society’s Transactions of 1859, contains a few references to the anatomy of 
the genus. Professor Bower in 1882 published an account of the germina- 
tion and seedling structure of G. G 7 iemon , while the seedlings of G. scande 7 is 
and G. moluccense have been investigated recently by Hill and de Fraine. 
A few references to the anatomy of G. G 7 iemon , G. scande 7 is i and G. Thoa 
occur in de Bary’s ‘Comparative Anatomy of Phanerogams and Ferns’. 
Strasburger, in 1872, investigated the course of the bundles in leaf and stem, 
and the vascular supply of the axillary buds in several species of Gnetu 7 n. 
In 1894 Boodle and Worsdell published a paper on the ‘ Comparative 
Anatomy of the Casuarineae, with special reference to the Gnetaceae and 
Cupuliferae \ The species of Gnetum examined were — G. Gnemon , G. pani - 
culatum , G. scandens , G. neglectu 77 i , and G. Thoa. 
External Characters. 
The genus Gnetum comprises between 20 and 30 species of tropical 
trees and climbers, two of which — G. africanum and G. Buchholzianum— 
are natives of the African continent. G. africanum was first discovered 
1 Percy Sladen Memorial Expedition in South-West Africa, 1908-9, Report No. 20. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXVI. No. CII. April, 1912.] 
