During the City Nature Challenge last weekend we organised bike field trips here in the coastal Amazon region with our students. One of them photographed a native gymnosperm, a species of Gnetum. These are frequently not recognized as such — at first glance, they look like any angiosperm liana, especially in sterile conditions. However, the swollen nodes of the seed-bearing strobili give them away when examining more closely.
#CityNatureChallenge #Gnetaceae #Gymnosperms #Amazonas #iNaturalist

From today's canoe trip through the inundated forests of the Caeté river floodplain -- this liana is actually a gymnosperm (should be Gnetum venosum Spruce ex Benth.). We collected this specimen for our herbarium at the University of Pará (UFPA) in Bragança (HBRA).
#Amazonas #Caeté #BragançaPA #Gnetaceae #lianas #wetlands #floodplain #forests #herbarium #HBRA #UFPA