| Noun | 1. | order Gnetales - chiefly tropical or xerophytic woody plants; practically unknown as fossils but considered close to the ancestral line of angiosperms plant order - the order of plants class Gnetopsida, Gnetophyta, Gnetophytina, Gnetopsida, subdivision Gnetophytina - gymnospermous flowering plants; supposed link between conifers and angiosperms; in some systems classified as a class (Gnetopsida) and in others as a subdivision (Gnetophytina or Gnetophyta) family Gnetaceae, Gnetaceae - plants having small unisexual flowers and fleshy or winged fruit: in some classifications includes the genera Ephedra and Welwitschia as well as genus Gnetum Ephedraceae, family Ephedraceae - ephedras: in some classifications included in the Gnetaceae family Welwitschiaceae, Welwitschiaceae - in some classifications included in the Gnetaceae |