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Casuarina cunninghamiana

(Cunningham's Casuarina)

Overview

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Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Afrikaans:

Kasuarisboom

Common Names in English:

Cunningham's Casuarina, Beefwood, Cunningham's Beefwood, River She-Oak, River Sheoak, River-Oak

Common Names in Portuguese:

Casuarina, Pinheiro-Australiano

Description

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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]

Physical Description

Habit: Tree • Growth Form: Single Stem • Shape and Orientation: Erect

Flowers: Bloom Period: Mid Spring • Flower Color: Red • Flower Conspicuous: No

Seeds: Seed per Pound: 700000 • Seed Spread Rate: Rapid • Seedling Vigor: High • Fruit/Seed Abundance: High • Fruit/Seed Color: Brown • Fruit/Seed Conspicuous: No • Cold Stratification Required: No

Foliage: Foliage Color: Green • Foliage Porosity Summer: Dense • Foliage Porosity Winter: Dense • Foliage Texture: Fine • Fall Conspicuous: No • Leaf Retention: Yes

Size/Age/Growth

Active Growth Period: Spring , Summer, Fall • Growth Rate: Rapid • Mature Height (feet): 100.0 • Maximum Height at 20 Years (feet): 50 • Size: over 40' tall. • Vegetative Spread Rate: None • Lifespan: Lifespan

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 3,868 meters (0 to 12,690 feet).[3]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial • Coppice Potential: Yes • Progagated by Bulbs: No • Propagated by Bare Root: Yes • Propagated by Container: Yes • Propagated by Corms: No • Propagated by Cuttings: Yes • Propagated by Seed: Yes • Propagated by Sod: No • Propagated by Sprigs: No • Propagated by Tubers: No • Fruit/Seed Period Begin: Summer • Fruit/Seed Period End: Fall • Fruit/Seed Persistence: No

Growth

Culture: Space 30-40' apart.

Soil: Adapted to Medium Textured: Adapted to Medium Textured Soils • Adapted to Coarse Textured Soils: Yes • Anaerobic Tolerance: Medium • Salinity Tolerance: Low • CaCO3 Tolerance: Medium • Minimum pH: 6.5 • Maximum pH: 7.5 • Fertility Requirement: Low

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun . • Shade Tolerance: Intolerant

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: Low • Minimum Precipitation: 25 • Maximum Precipitation: 60 • Moisture Use: Medium

Temperature: Minimum Temperature (F): 22 • Minimum Frost Free Days: 300 • Cold Hardiness: 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

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Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 1996

Similar Species

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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

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 19, 2007:

Identifiers

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 = 412.700 meters (1,354.003 feet), Standard Deviation = 449.030 based on 284 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012