Allocasuarina media explained

Allocasuarina media is a species of flowering plant in the family Casuarinaceae and is endemic to a small area of Victoria. It is a dioecious, rarely a monoecious shrub that has more or less erect branchlets up to long, the leaves reduced to scales in whorls of six to eight, the fruiting cones usually long containing winged seeds (samaras) long.

Description

Allocasuarina media is a dioecious, or rarely a monoecious shrub that typically grows to a height of and has smooth bark. Its branchlets are more or less erect, up to long, the leaves reduced to erect or slightly spreading, scale-like teeth about long, arranged in whorls of six to eight around the branchlets. The sections of branchlet between the leaf whorls (the "articles") are long, wide. Male flowers are spikes long, often appearing like a string of beads, the anthers long. Female cones are cylindrical and sessile or on a peduncle up to long. Mature cones are cylindrical, mostly long and in diameter, the samaras dark reddish-brown to black, and long.[1] [2]

This species is thought to be a well-established hybrid of A. littoralis and A. paradoxa.

Taxonomy

Allocasuarina media was first formally described in 1989 by Lawrie Johnson in the Flora of Australia from specimens collected in Wilsons Promontory National Park in 1986.[3] [4] The specific epithet, (media) means "middling" referring to its intermediate position between A. littoralis and A. paradoxa.

Distribution and habitat

This she-oak is only known from low woodland on the northern end of Wilsons Promontory and a single collection from near Gembrook.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Entwisle . Timothy J. . Stajsic . Val . Allocasuarina media . Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . 18 June 2023.
  2. Web site: Allocasuarina media . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra . 17 June 2023.
  3. Web site: Allocasuarina media. APNI. 18 June 2023.
  4. Book: Wilson . Karen L. . Johnson . Lawrence A.S. . George. Alex S.. Flora of Australia . 3 . 1989 . Australian Government Publishing Service . Canberra . 197 . 17 June 2023.