422 
flowers; the cones or strobili are presented at 
the tip of a slender stem or axis (Chamberlain 
1935; Manner & Eleivich 2006). It has yellow 
single-seeded fruits which turn purplered or 
orangered at maturity (Maheshwari & Vasil 
1961; Manner & Eleivich 2006), ripening 
between September and December (Bourke 
etal. 2004). 
Across its Asian, Malesian and Western 
Pacific range the genus Gnetum is known 
from tropical rainforest up to 1,700 m with 
rainfall of 750-5,000 mm/year (Manner & 
Eleivich 2006). It occurs in primary and 
secondary vegetation, with cultivated trees 
commonly found in home orchards and 
subsistence gardens. 
Wild and cultivated Gnetum gnemon is an 
important natural resource in many parts of 
Asia, Malesia and the Pacific where it occurs. 
Documented uses include: food (leaves 
for wrapping food items, young cones and 
leaves cooked with meat for flavoring; seeds 
ground into a flour for fried flat cakes; flowers 
(stroboli) eaten; young fruits eaten raw or 
cooked; timber (poles for house construction, 
tool handles, burned for fuel, and pulped for 
papermaking); stem bark fibre (string bags, 
ropes, bowstring on musical instruments, 
construction of fishing lines and fishnets, 
assembling arrowheads and arrowshafts); 
agroforestry and rehabilitation (intercropping 
for rambutan and breadfruit, trellis for 
Dioscorea yams, improving soil fertility, 
windbreaks, boundary markers) (Henderson 
& Hancock 1989; Verheij & Sukendar 1991; 
Ohtsuksa 1983; Peekel 1984; Salim etal. 2002; 
Walter & Sam 2002; Manner & Eleivich 2006; 
Quartermain & Tomi 2010). Extracts derived 
from Gnetum are reported useful as health 
supplements (Kato et al. 2009) and the nuts 
form an important home industry throughout 
Indonesia (Cadiz & Florido 2001). 
In Papua New Guinea it is an important 
wild and cultivated food plant in many 
locations (Powell 1976; Bourke 2004) and 
known in Tok pisin as ‘ Tulip ’ (two leaves) 
(French 1986). The Gidra people of the 
Oriomo River area of southwest Papua New 
Guinea adjacent to Torres Strait, eat the fruits 
and leaves (Ohtsuka 1983), and the leaves and 
Austrobaileya 9 ( 3 ): 421-430 ( 2015 ) 
fruit are identified as a source of protein across 
the nation (Cordon 1970). Cultivation of trees 
is achieved by propagating seed and/or from 
cuttings (French 1986). In the Kiunga area of 
Western Province the bark is used to make the 
fibre for string bags and other products and 
it is also cultivated as a food plant (leaves) 
in Daru (Western Province) (B. Waterhouse 
pers. comm., April 2014). 
We report on the occurrence of 
Gnetum gnemon on two islands in Torres 
Strait, Queensland, thus recognizing the 
gymnosperm order Gnetales for the first time 
from Australia. The distribution, habitat and 
ecology of the species at these localities are 
discussed together with an assessment of 
its local conservation status. Its origins in 
Torres Strait are considered with reference to 
biogeographic and anthropogenic factors. 
Materials and methods 
A survey of the vegetation of the Torres Strait 
Islands, Queensland, Australia, was carried 
out in 2007 (Stanton et al. 2009). The survey’s 
primary objective was to map vegetation 
communities at a scale of 1:25,000 and 
Regional Ecosystems at a scale of 1:50,000, 
and was supplemented by floristic inventory 
and collections of voucher specimens for 
Australian herbaria. Additional surveys on 
the Badu and Mua islands between 2009 
and 2015 have been carried out as part of a 
biodiversity management planning program 
through the Land and Sea Management Unit 
of the Torres Strait Regional Authority (3D 
Environmental 2011a, 2011b; Gynther et al. 
2014; Reis etal 2015). 
Collections of Gnetum gnemon were 
made at Badu Island in October 2007 {Fell 
10206 & Stanton ) (Fig. 1) and on Mua Island 
in April 2011 {Fell 10803 & Stanton ) (Fig. 
2), with further confirmed observations on 
Mua in March 2014 and on Badu in May 
2015 (Fell pers. obs.). Voucher specimens are 
lodged with the Queensland Herbarium (BRI) 
with duplicates to the Australian Tropical 
Herbarium (CNS). 
