Gnetophytes (Gnetales)

This group gathers Conifers and Other Gymnosperms subcategory members belonging to the order Gnetales, a small, ecologically and morphologically eccentric group of gymnosperms whose members share some reproductive features with flowering plants despite not being flowering plants themselves, a resemblance long debated among botanists studying seed plant evolution. It spans Ephedra, desert and arid-zone shrubs with jointed, nearly leafless green stems, long used in traditional medicine and as the namesake source of the stimulant compound ephedrine, Gnetum, mostly tropical vines and trees including the gnemon tree, whose seeds and leaves are eaten in parts of Southeast Asia, and Welwitschia, an extraordinary Namib Desert plant that grows just two enormous, ribbon-like leaves for its entire multi-century lifespan, splitting and fraying over time but never shed and replaced.