Allocasuarina inophloia

Stringybark She-Oak
Bark
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Fagales
Family: Casuarinaceae
Genus: Allocasuarina
Species: A. inophloia
Binomial name
Allocasuarina inophloia
(F.Muell. & F.M.Bailey) L.A.S.Johnson

Allocasuarina inophloia, 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.

Taxonomy

First collected near Roma in central Queensland, the stringybark she-oak was described by Ferdinand von Mueller and Frederick Manson Bailey in 1882 as Casuarina inophloia.[1] Exactly 100 years later, Lawrie Johnson moved it to its current genus Allocasuarina in his revision of the she-oaks.[2]

Description

Allocasuarina inophloia grows as a small tree with an open habit ranging from 3 to 10 m high. It is dioecious.[3] Like all she-oaks, its foliage is composed of segmented branchlets with segments known as articles, its leaves reduced to tiny scales between them.[4]

Distribution and habitat

In New South Wales it occurs in areas such as the Clarence River valley, Emmaville, Yetman,[3] south to Waralda, while it ranges in Queensland north to Herberton.[5] It is found in woodland on sandstone, ironstone or laterite ridges.[3][5] Associated species include grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea) and eucalypts, such as drooping ironbark (Eucalyptus caleyi).[6]

Northwest of Glen Innes it is found in tall scrub on granitic soil uplands with other dominant species such as the she-oak species Allocasuarina brachystachya, wattle species Acacia williamsiana and the endangered Severn River heath-myrtle (Micromyrtus grandis) and understory shrubs such as Leucopogon neo-anglicus and fringe myrtle (Calytrix tetragona).[6]

It has been recorded as a host plant for the orange mistletoe (Dendrophthoe glabrescens).[7]

Cultivation

Its shaggy bark gives the species its horticultural potential. It is frost hardy and able to tolerate poor soils.[4]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Allocasuarina inophloia.
  1. "Casuarina inophloia F.Muell. & F.M.Bailey". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  2. "Allocasuarina inophloia (F.Muell. & F.M.Bailey) L.A.S.Johnson". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  3. 1 2 3 "Plant Net - New South Wales Flora Online". Allocasuarina inophloia. NSW Government. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  4. 1 2 Ahrendt, Lucy (2006). "Allocasuarina inophloia". Growing Native Plants. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Australian National Botanic Gardens, Australian Government. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Allocasuarina inophloia (F.Muell. & F.M.Bailey) L.A.S.Johnson". Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.
  6. 1 2 Hunter, John T.; Clark, Peter J. (1998). "The vegetation of granitic outcrop communities on the New England Batholith of eastern Australia" (PDF). Cunninghamia. 5 (3): 547–618.
  7. Downey, Paul O. (1998). "An inventory of host species for each aerial mistletoe species (Loranthaceae and Viscaceae) in Australia" (PDF). Cunninghamia. 5 (3): 685–720.
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