Gnetum edule

Botanical Description

Gnetum edule is a large, evergreen, climbing plant with woody, twining stems. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food, medicine and source of oil. Within some parts of its range this species is considered rare and endangered; it is also likely to have been affected by extensive habitat loss in recent years through conversion of land for agriculture and plantations, encroachment of human settlements and flooding as a consequence of hydro-electric projects. On a regional basis it may well be threatened, however, the global range is large and occurrence in many ecoregions across India means it does not meet the threshold for a threatened category based on range size at present. The plant is classified as 'Least Concern' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2013)[ 338 Title IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Publication Author Website http://www.iucnredlist.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat. ].