Allocasuarina corniculata - Flickr - Kevin Thiele

''Allocasuarina corniculata'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Casuarinaceae 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 ...

and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect to spreading,

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

shrub that has more or less erect branchlets, the leaves reduced to scales in whorls of six to eleven, the mature fruiting cones long containing winged seeds (samaras) long.

Description

''Allocasuarina corniculata'' is an erect to spreading, dioecious shrub that typically grows to a height of . Its branchlets are more or less erect, up to long, the leaves reduced to erect, scale-like teeth long, arranged in whorls of six to eleven around the branchlets. The sections of branchlet between the leaf whorls (the "articles") are mostly long and wide. Male flowers are arranged in spikes long, in whorls of 10 to 16 per centimetre (per 0.39 in.), the

anthers The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filamen ...

long. Female cones are red,

glabrous Glabrousness () is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes, or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, ...

and sessile or on a peduncle up to long. Mature cones are long and in diameter with sharply pointed, curved awns near the base of the bracteoles, but that falls off as the cone matures. The samaras are reddish brown and long.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1876 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria, Australia ...

who gave it the name ''Casuarina corniculata'' in his ''

Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae ''Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae'' is a series of papers written by the Victorian Government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in which he published many of his approximately 2000 descriptions of new taxa of Australian plants. Including the p ...

'', from specimens collected near Mount Churchman by Jess Young. It was reclassified in 1982 as ''Allocasuarina campestris'' by Lawrie Johnson in the ''

Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens The Adelaide Botanic Garden is a public garden at the north-east corner of the Adelaide city centre, in the Adelaide Park Lands. It encompasses a fenced garden on North Terrace (between Lot Fourteen, the site of the old Royal Adelaide Hospita ...

''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''corniculata'') means "with a small, hornlike appendage".

Distribution and habitat

This sheoak grows in tall heath on sandplains between Wubin and Norseman in the

Avon Wheatbelt The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of . It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion. Geography The Avon Wheatbelt bioregion is mostly a gently undulating landscape with low rel ...

, Coolgardie,

Esperance Plains Esperance Plains, also known as Eyre Botanical District, is a biogeography, biogeographic region in southern Western Australia on the South_coast_of_Western_Australia , south coast between the Avon Wheatbelt and Hampton bioregions, and bordere ...

, Mallee and Murchison bioregions of south-western Western Australia.

Conservation status

''Allocasuarina corniculata'' is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is the Government of Western Australia, Western Australian government department responsible for managing lands and waters described in the ''Conservation and Land Management A ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15375742 corniculata Rosids of Western Australia Fagales of Australia Dioecious plants Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Plants described in 1876