Allocasuarina Explained

Allocasuarina, commonly known as sheoak or she-oak,^[1] is a genus of flowering plants in the family Casuarinaceae and is endemic to Australia. Plants in the genus Allocasuarina are trees or shrubs with soft, pendulous, green branchlets, the leaves reduced to scale-like teeth. Allocasuarinas are either monoecious or dioecious, the flowers never bisexual. Male and female flowers are arranged in spikes, the female spikes developing into cone-like structures enclosing winged seeds.

The genera Allocasuarina and Casuarina are similar, and many formerly in the latter now included in Allocasuarina.

Description

Plants in the genus Allocasuarina are trees or shrubs with soft, pendulous, green branchlets, the leaves reduced to 4 to 14 scale-like teeth arranged around in whorls around ribbed, jointed branchlets. Allocasuarinas have separate male and female flowers, sometimes on one plant (monoecious), otherwise on separate male and female plants, (dioecious). Male flowers are arranged in spikes along branchlets that are usually different from the vegetative branchlets. Female flowers are in spikes on short side-branches, the female spikes later developing into cone-like structures enclosing winged seeds known as samaras.^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5]

The genera Allocasuarina and Casuarina are similar, many formerly in the latter now included in Allocasuarina. There are 6 to 20 scale-like teeth in each whorl of casuarina leaves and the samaras are grey or yellowish-brown, the bracteoles of the fruiting cones thin, woody and extend well beyond the cone body. There are 4 to 14 scale-like teeth in each whorl of Allocasuarina leaves and the samaras are reddish-brown to black, the bracteoles thickly woody and extend only slightly beyond the cone body.

Taxonomy

The genus Allocasuarina was first formally described in 1982 by Lawrence Johnson in the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. In the same paper, Johnson transferred some species previously included in Casuarina to the new genus, and nominated Allocasuarina torulosa Aiton L.A.S.Johnson as the type species. The name Allocasuarina means "other Casuarina".^[6] ("Allo-" in Greek means "other".)^[7]

List of species

The following is a list of Allocasuarina accepted by the Australian Plant Census and Plants of the World Online as of April 2023:^[8] ^[9]

Allocasuarina acuaria (F.Muell.) L.A.S.Johnson (W.A.)
Allocasuarina acutivalvis (F.Muell.) L.A.S.Johnson (W.A.)
Allocasuarina anfractuosa Wege & S.R.Barrett (W.A.)
Allocasuarina brachystachya L.A.S.Johnson (N.S.W.)
Allocasuarina campestris (Diels) L.A.S.Johnson (W.A.)
Allocasuarina corniculata (F.Muell.) L.A.S.Johnson (W.A.)
Allocasuarina crassa L.A.S.Johnson – Cape Pillar sheoak (Tas.)
Allocasuarina decaisneana (F.Muell.) L.A.S.Johnson – desert oak, desert sheoak (N.T., W.A., S.A.)
Allocasuarina decussata (Benth.) L.A.S.Johnson – karri oak (W.A.)
Allocasuarina defungens L.A.S.Johnson – dwarf heath casuarina (N.S.W.)
Allocasuarina dielsiana (C.A.Gardner) L.A.S.Johnson – northern sheoak (W.A.)
Allocasuarina diminuta L.A.S.Johnson (N.S.W.)
Allocasuarina distyla (Vent.) L.A.S.Johnson – scrub she-oak (N.S.W.)
Allocasuarina drummondiana (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson (W.A.)
Allocasuarina duncanii L.A.S.Johnson & D.I.Morris – Duncan's sheoak, conical sheoak (Tas.)
Allocasuarina eriochlamys (L.A.S.Johnson) L.A.S.Johnson (W.A.)
Allocasuarina fibrosa (C.A.Gardner) L.A.S.Johnson – woolly sheoak (W.A.)
Allocasuarina filidens L.A.S.Johnson – Mount Beerwah sheoak (Qld.)
Allocasuarina fraseriana (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson – western sheoak (W.A.)
Allocasuarina glareicola L.A.S.Johnson (N.S.W.)
Allocasuarina globosa L.A.S.Johnson (W.A.)
Allocasuarina grampiana L.A.S.Johnson – Grampians sheoak (Vic.)
Allocasuarina grevilleoides (Diels) L.A.S.Johnson
Allocasuarina gymnanthera L.A.S.Johnson (N.S.W.)
Allocasuarina helmsii (Ewart & M. Gordon) L.A.S.Johnson (W.A., S.A.)
Allocasuarina huegeliana (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson – rock sheoak (W.A.)
Allocasuarina humilis (Otto & A.Dietr.) L.A.S.Johnson – dwarf sheoak (W.A.)
Allocasuarina hystricosa Wege (W.A.)
Allocasuarina inophloia (F.Muell. & F.M.Bailey) L.A.S.Johnson – stringybark she-oak (Qld., N.S.W.)
Allocasuarina lehmanniana (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson – dune sheoak (W.A.)
Allocasuarina littoralis (Salisb.) L.A.S.Johnson – black sheoak (Qld., N.S.W., A.C.T., Vic., Tas.)
Allocasuarina luehmannii (R.T.Baker) L.A.S.Johnson – bull-oak, buloke (Qld., N.S.W., A.C.T., Vic., TAS.)
Allocasuarina mackliniana L.A.S.Johnson (Vic., S.A.)
Allocasuarina media L.A.S.Johnson (Vic.)
Allocasuarina microstachya (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson (W.A.)
Allocasuarina misera L.A.S.Johnson (Vic.)
Allocasuarina monilifera (L.A.S.Johnson) L.A.S.Johnson – necklace sheoak (Tas.)
Allocasuarina muelleriana (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson – slaty sheoak (S.A., Vic.)
Allocasuarina nana (Sieber ex Spreng.) L.A.S.Johnson – dwarf she-oak, stunted sheoak (N.S.W., Vic.)
Allocasuarina ophiolitica L.A.S.Johnson (N.S.W.)
Allocasuarina paludosa (Sieber ex Spreng.) L.A.S.Johnson – swamp she-oak, scrub sheoak (N.S.W., Vic., S.A., Tas.)
Allocasuarina paradoxa (Macklin) L.A.S.Johnson (Vic.)
Allocasuarina pinaster (C.A.Gardner) L.A.S.Johnson – compass bush (W.A.)
Allocasuarina portuensis L.A.S.Johnson – Nielsen Park she-oak (N.S.W.)
Allocasuarina pusilla (Macklin) L.A.S.Johnson – heath oak-bush, dwarf sheoak (Vic, S.A.)
Allocasuarina ramosissima (C.A.Gardner) L.A.S.Johnson (W.A.)
Allocasuarina rigida (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson (N.S.W., Qld.)
Allocasuarina robusta (Macklin) L.A.S.Johnson – Mount Compass oak-bush (S.A.)
Allocasuarina rupicola L.A.S.Johnson – shrubby she-oak (N.S.W., Qld.)
Allocasuarina scleroclada (L.A.S.Johnson) L.A.S.Johnson (W.A.)
Allocasuarina simulans L.A.S.Johnson – Nabiac casuarina (N.S.W.)
Allocasuarina spinosissima (C.A.Gardner) L.A.S.Johnson (W.A.)
Allocasuarina striata (Macklin) L.A.S.Johnson – small bull oak, stalked oak-bush, tall oak-bush (S.A.)
Allocasuarina tessellata (C.A.Gardner) L.A.S.Johnson (W.A.)
Allocasuarina thalassoscopica L.A.S.Johnson (N.S.W., Qld.)
Allocasuarina thuyoides (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson – horned she-oak (W.A.)
Allocasuarina tortiramula E.M.Benn. – twisted sheoak (W.A.)
Allocasuarina torulosa (Aiton) L.A.S.Johnson – forest oak, rose sheoak, river oak, Baker's oak (N.S.W., Qld.)
Allocasuarina trichodon (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson (W.A.)
Allocasuarina verticillata (Lam.) L.A.S.Johnson – drooping sheoak (N.S.W., A.C.T., Vic., S.A., Tas.)
Allocasuarina zephyrea L.A.S.Johnson (Tas.)

Distribution and habitat

Plants in the genus Allocasuarina usually grow in nutrient-deficient soils and are endemic to southern Australia, but 4 species occur in north-eastern Queensland, and one in the north of Western Australia.

External links

Web site: She-Oak Woodland & Forest . https://web.archive.org/web/20040616130318/http://www.bushcare.tas.gov.au/info/sheoak.htm . 2004-06-16 . Bushcare Technical Extension (Tasmania) . August 2000 . Jamie . Kirkpatrick.
Web site: Allocasuarina L.A.S.Johnson . Atlas of Living Australia .
Research team from IRD working on Casuarinaceae

Notes and References

Web site: Allocasuarina . Wildflower Society of Western Australia (Inc.), Perth Branch . 21 April 2023.
Web site: Entwisle . Timothy J. . Stajsic . Val . Allocasuarina . Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . 21 April 2023.
Web site: Wilson . Karen L. . Johnson . Lawrence A.S. . George . Alex S. . Allocasuarina . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, the Environment and Water: Canberra . 21 April 2023.
Web site: Allocasuarina . State Herbarium of South Australia . 21 April 2023.
Web site: Wilson . Karen L. . Johnson . Lawrence A.S. . Wilson . Karen L. . Family Casuarinaceae . Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 21 April 2023.
Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 286 . 3rd.
Book: . Botanical Latin. History, grammar, syntax, terminology and vocabulary . 1992 . Timber Press . Portland, Oregon . 4th. 367.
Web site: Allocasuarina . Plants of the World Online . 21 April 2023.
Web site: Allocasuarina . Australian Plant Census . 21 April 2023.