Casuarina cristata

• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Family Casuarinaceae

Trees or shrubs evergreen , monoecious or dioecious. Ultimate branchlets jointed , with several short, basal articles and 1-numerous elongated articles, slender, ridged , often pubescent at least when young. Leaves small, toothlike, in whorls of 4 to ca. 20 (equal to number of ridges on branchlets) ; stipules absent. Inflorescences spikelike or headlike, with alternating whorls of toothlike bracts; within each bract a single flower, with 2 lateral scalelike bracteoles, persistent (rarely deciduous in male Allocasuarina) ; parts sometimes pubescent when young, mostly glabrous at maturity. Flowers unisexual , without pedicels. Male inflorescences spikes, terminal or lateral, terete , slender. Female inflorescences headlike, globose or ellipsoid , usually terminal on short, lateral branches. Male flowers: tepals 1 or 2, scalelike, deciduous, hooded ; stamen 1; anthers 2-loculed, longitudinally dehiscent , basifixed . Female flowers: perianth none; carpels 2, fused; only anterior carpel fertile, posterior carpel usually ± reduced or obsolete ; ovules 2 (rarely 4), parietal , paired at base of carpel, chalazogamous; style short; stigmas 2, red, linear . Infructescences ± woody, conelike, with dense whorls of fruit, with 2 bracteoles of each flower enlarged as valves , persistent. Samaras flat, (usually) winged at apex, initially enclosed by 2 bracteoles, which separate at maturity to release samara. Seed 1; cotyledons large; endosperm absent; embryo straight, often more than 1.

Four genera and 97 species: mainly in Australia, extending to SE Asia, Malesia, Pacific Islands; commonly introduced and occasionally naturalized elsewhere; one genus and three species (all introduced) in China.[1]

Genus Casuarina

Young persistent branchlets distinguished from deciduous branchlets by shorter segments and differences in shape or size of leaves; furrows deep and closed , concealing stomates. Infructescences pedunculate , pubescent at least when immature ; bracts thin in exposed portion, not vertically expanded; bracteoles ± protruding from surface of infructescence, never greatly thickened, always lacking dorsal protuberance . Samaras pale yellow-brown or grayish, dull , glabrous . x = 9.

Species 17: almost throughout range of family .

Hybrids are frequent in cultivation; in the flora , hybrids are known between all combinations of the three species.[2]

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 689 meters (0 to 2,260 feet).[3]

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 1996

Similar Species

Members of the genus Casuarina

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 6 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

C. cristata (Belah) · C. cunninghamiana (Cunningham's Casuarina) · C. equisetifolia (Australian Pine) · C. glauca (Gray Sheoak) · C. lepidophloia (Belah) · C. obesa (Swamp She-Oak)

More Info

• Search for Pictures: images.google.com
• Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
• Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Further Reading

• Biosphere Reserves, Compilation 4, October 1986: programme on man and the biosphere (MAB) IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre url p. 28, p. 37.
• Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). London: The Museum, 1950-1977. url p. 427.
• The Great Basin naturalist. 53 1993 Provo, Utah: M.L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University, 1939-1999. url p. 15.
• The useful native plants of Australia, (including Tasmania) by J. H. Maiden. Sydney, Turner and Henderson, 1889. url p. 398, p. 673.
• Chen Te-chao. 1982. Casuarinaceae. In: Tseng Yung-chien, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 20(1): 1-5.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 28, 2007:

• Australian National Herbarium
• , Australian National Herbarium
• International Plant Genetic Resources Institute(IPGRI), The System-wide Information Network for Genetic Resources
• National Herbarium of New South Wales, NSW herbarium collection

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2769924
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: IOP-48832
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13742551
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:51759-3
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID:
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 432107

Footnotes

1. Nianhe Xia, Lawrence A. S. Johnson & Karen L. Wilson "Casuarinaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 4 Page 106. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. "Casuarina". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
3. Mean = 271.740 meters (891.535 feet), Standard Deviation = 120.060 based on 152 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.