Allocasuarina distyla

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 distyla
Developing fruit
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fagales
Family: Casuarinaceae
Genus: Allocasuarina
Species:
A. distyla
Binomial name
Allocasuarina distyla
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms[1]

Casuarina distyla Vent.
 Casuarina distyla var. prostrata Maiden & Betche
Casuarina dumosa A.Cunn. ex Miq.
Casuarina rigida Miq.

Description

This dioecious[2] shrub or small tree will typically grow to a height of 4 metres (13 ft) tall, or 7 metres (22 feet) in richer soils, and is found in coastal areas of New south Wales and southern Queensland.[3] This plant is extremely resilient as it has the ability to grow in poor conditions such as draught. Its erect branchlets are up to 35 centimetres (14 in) long.[2] The ridges are angular to rounded and occasionally pubescent.[2] There are 6–8 teeth.[2] The spikes of male flowers are 1–5 centimetres (0.4–2.0 in) long with roughly 5 whorls of flowers per centimetre.[2] The cones are up to 12 millimetres (0.5 in) long and often have a sterile apex. The samara is a very dark brown.[2] This plant is dioecious, meaning that the male and female reproductive organs develop on different trees. The most common time this plant will flower is between the months of July through September, however, this may vary depending on rainfall. In Greek, 'allos' translates to 'other' and 'Casuarina' implies a comparison to 'foliage'. 'Di' translates to 'two' whereas 'stylos' translates to 'column'. These translations relate to the characteristics of this plant.

Taxonomy

The species was first described as Casuarina distyla by the botanist Étienne Pierre Ventenat in 1802 in the Description des Plantes Nouvelles et peu connues, cultivees dans le Jardin de J.M. Cels.[4][5] It was subsequently reclassified into the Allocasuarina genera by Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson in 1982 in a revision of the sheoaks, Notes on Casuarinaceae II., published in the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.[6][7]

References
  1. Govaerts, R. et. al. 2018 "Plants of the World online Allocasuarina distyla". Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  2. Wilson, K.L. & Johnson, L.A.S. (1990) PlantNET New South Wales Flora online Allocasuarina distyla Retrieved 4 July 2018
  3. "Allocasuarina monilifera - Casuarinaceae Necklace sheoak". Australian Plants Society Tasmania Inc. Archived from the original on 14 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  4. "Allocasuarina distyla (Vent.) L.A.S.Johnson". Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  5. Ventenat, E.P. (1802), Description des Plantes Nouvelles et peu connues, cultivees dans le Jardin de J.M. Cels 7: 62, t. 62
  6. "Allocasuarina distyla (Vent.) L.A.S.Johnson". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  7. Johnson, L.A.S. (1982), Notes on Casuarinaceae II. Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens 6(1): 75 JSTOR
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