noun
chiefly tropical or xerophytic woody plants; practically unknown as fossils but considered close to the ancestral line of angiosperms
• Syn: ↑order Gnetales
• Hypernyms: ↑plant order
• Member Holonyms: ↑Gnetopsida, ↑class Gnetopsida, ↑Gnetophytina, ↑subdivision Gnetophytina, ↑Gnetophyta
• Member Meronyms: ↑Gnetaceae, ↑family Gnetaceae, ↑Ephedraceae, ↑family Ephedraceae, ↑Welwitschiaceae, ↑family Welwitschiaceae
* * *
\\-ā(ˌ)lēz\ noun pluralUsage: capitalized
: an order of chiefly tropical or xerophytic woody gymnospermous plants that have two cotyledons, opposite leaves, vessels in the wood, and compound male and female strobili, consist of a single family (Gnetaceae), and are practically unknown as fossils but are sometimes considered on structural grounds to be near or on the ancestral line of the angiosperms
Useful english dictionary. 2012.