Allocasuarina humilis | |
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Allocasuarina humilis - female plant: flowers & fruits | |
Entire shrub | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Fagales |
Family: | Casuarinaceae |
Genus: | Allocasuarina |
Species: | A. humilis |
Binomial name | |
Allocasuarina humilis | |
Occurrence records downloaded from AVH, 22 June 2018 | |
Synonyms | |
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Allocasuarina humilis, commonly known as the dwarf sheoak or dwarf casuarina, is a woody shrub of the family Casuarinaceae endemic to the south-west of Western Australia.
Unlike many sheoaks which grow into trees, Allocasuarina humilis only reaches 20 cm to 2 m (8–80 in) in height. A many branched shrub, its branchlets ascend from larger branches and reach 12 cm (5 in) in length. [1] As with other sheoaks, its foliage consists of slender green branchlets informally referred to as "needles" but more correctly termed cladodes. The cladodes are segmented, and the true leaves are tiny teeth encircling each joint. [2] It can be dioecius or monecious. The reddish-brown male flower spikes are between 6 and 18 mm long and the warty cones are cylindrical, about 12 to 22 mm in length and 10 to 17 mm in diameter. [1]
Originally described as Casuarina humilis by German naturalists Christoph Friedrich Otto and Albert Gottfried Dietrich in 1841 from a specimen cultivated in Berlin Botanical Gardens, [3] [4] the dwarf sheoak was transferred to the new genus Allocasuarina by botanist Lawrie Johnson in 1982. [5] [6] The species name is the Latin adjective hǔmǐlǐs "on - " or "close to the ground" (hǔmus). [7] A 2003 molecular study of the family Casuarinaceae showed the dwarf sheoak and the horned sheoak ( A. thuyoides ) to be sister taxa, and form a clade with A. thuyoides , A. microstachya , karri oak ( A. decussata ) and western sheoak ( A. fraseriana ), [8] all from Western Australia.
Allocasuarina humilis is found across southwest Western Australia, from the Murchison River in the north, to the south coast, where it extends eastwards to Israelite Bay. [1] It grows on sand, sand over laterite, gravel, or clay. [9]
Allocasuarina humilis adapts readily to cultivation. Versatile, it tolerates a wide range of soils, including those with some alkalinity, and prefers a sunny aspect. Tolerant of some exposure to coastal conditions, it is also planted for erosion control and as a windbreak. [10] Unlike many Australian native plants, it is relatively tolerant of phosphates to some degree in cultivation. [11]
The Casuarinaceae are a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants placed in the order Fagales, consisting of four genera and 91 species of trees and shrubs native to eastern Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, Malesia, Papuasia, and the Pacific Islands. At one time, all species were placed in the genus Casuarina. Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson separated out many of those species and renamed them into the new genera of Gymnostoma in 1980 and 1982, Allocasuarina in 1982, and Ceuthostoma in 1988, with some additional formal descriptions of new species in each other genus. At the time, it was somewhat controversial. The monophyly of these genera was later supported in a 2003 genetics study of the family. In the Wettstein system, this family was the only one placed in the order Verticillatae. Likewise, in the Engler, Cronquist, and Kubitzki systems, the Casuarinaceae were the only family placed in the order Casuarinales.
Allocasuarina is a genus of trees in the flowering plant family Casuarinaceae. They are endemic to Australia, occurring primarily in the south. Like the closely related genus Casuarina, they are commonly called sheoaks or she-oaks.
Casuarina is a genus of 17 tree species in the family Casuarinaceae, native to Australia, the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, islands of the western Pacific Ocean, and eastern Africa. It was once treated as the sole genus in the family, but has been split into four genera.
Allocasuarina fraseriana, commonly known as western sheoak, common sheoak, WA sheoak. Fraser's sheoak or just sheoak, is a tree in the family Casuarinaceae. Endemic to Western Australia, it occurs near the coast in the south west corner of the State, from Jurien to Albany . The Noongar peoples know the tree as Condil, Kulli or Gulli.
Allocasuarina huegeliana, commonly known as rock sheoak or sighing sheoak, is a tree in the family Casuarinaceae. Endemic to Western Australia, it occurs mostly throughout the Wheatbelt region. It is now especially common on road verges, where it sometimes forms thickets.
Allocasuarina lehmanniana, commonly known as dune sheoak, is a shrub in the family Casuarinaceae. Endemic to Western Australia, it is widespread along on the coast from the Murchison River south to Israelite Bay.
Leucophyta is a plant genus which is endemic to Australia. The genus was first formally described by botanist Robert Brown in 1818.
Allocasuarina distyla, commonly known as scrub she-oak, is a shrub or small tree of the She-oak family Casuarinaceae endemic to New South Wales.
Allocasuarina decaisneana or desert oak is a medium-sized, slow-growing tree found in the dry desert regions of the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. The Anangu peoples know the tree as kurkara.
Casuarina cristata is an Australian tree of the sheoak family Casuarinaceae known as belah. It is native to a band across inland eastern Australia.
Allocasuarina inophloia, also known as woolly oak, or stringybark she-oak, is a shrub or small tree of the she-oak family Casuarinaceae endemic to inland New South Wales and Queensland. The hairy bark is an unusual feature.
Allocasuarina paludosa, commonly known as the swamp sheoak or scrub sheoak, is a woody shrub of the family Casuarinaceae. It is endemic to south-eastern Australia.
Allocasuarina grampiana, commonly known as Grampians sheoak, is a dioecious shrub or tree of the family Casuarinaceae. The species is endemic to the Grampians in Victoria, Australia where it grows on sandstone outcrops. It grows to between 1 and 4 metres high and has ascending needle-like branchlets to 15 cm long which have a waxy bloom. Cones are cylindrical and are between 13 and 35 mm long and about 8mm in diameter. These produce 5mm long winged seeds.
Allocasuarina decussata, commonly known as karri oak or karri she-oak, is a medium-sized tree, or more rarely a shrub, that is endemic to the south west of Western Australia. It is an understory tree in karri forest but also occurs as a stunted shrub in places like Bluff Knoll in the Stirling Range.
Allocasuarina drummondiana is a shrub of the genus Allocasuarina native to the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.
Allocasuarina fibrosa, commonly known as the woolly sheoak, is a shrub of the genus Allocasuarina native to a small area in the central Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.
Allocasuarina thuyoides, commonly known as the horned sheoak, is a shrub of the genus Allocasuarina native to a large area in the Mid West, Wheatbelt, South West and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia.
Allocasuarina trichodon is a shrub of the genus Allocasuarina native to an area along the south coast in the Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia.
Allocasuarina filidens, commonly known as the Mount Beerwah sheoak, is a shrub of the genus Allocasuarina native to Queensland.
Amyema cambagei, commonly known as sheoak mistletoe, is a species of flowering plant, an epiphytic hemiparasitic plant of the family Loranthaceae endemic to Australia, and found in New South Wales and Queensland in sclerophyll forest and woodland on several species of Casuarinaceae.
Media related to Allocasuarina humilis at Wikimedia Commons