''Casuarina cunninghamiana'', commonly known as river oak or river she-oak, is a she-oak species of the genus '' Casuarina''. The native range in Australia extends from Daly River in the Northern Territory, north and east in Queensland and eastern New South Wales.

Description

The River Oak is an evergreen tree with fine greyish green needle-like foliage that grows to a height of with a spread of about . The trunk is usually erect, with dense rough bark. Flowers are reddish-brown in the male and red in the female. Cones are small, nearly round to elongated and about across.

Habitat

Trees are usually found in sunny locations along stream banks and swampy areas. It's widely recognised as an important tree for stabilising riverbanks and for soil erosion prevention accepting wet and dry soils. The foliage is quite palatable to stock. ''C. cunninghamiana'' is frost tolerant down to around and is widely used effectively as a screening plant. It is useful on windy sites and is also suited to coastal areas. ''C. cunninghamiana'' has been introduced into several other countries for the purpose of

agroforestry Agroforestry is a land use management system in which trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or pastureland. Trees produce a wide range of useful and marketable products from fruits/nuts, medicines, wood products, etc. This intentional ...

Subspecies

There are two

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

: *''C. cunninghamiana'' subsp. ''cunninghamiana''. Large tree to tall. Eastern New South Wales, north and east Queensland. *''C. cunninghamiana'' subsp. ''miodon''. Small tree to tall. Daly River and Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory and the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland. The species has many common names including River Oak, River She-oak or Creek Oak.

Invasive species

''Casuarina cunninghamiana'' is an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

in the

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...

in Florida and in South Africa.

References

External links

Australian Biological Resources Study

GBIF: ''Casuarina cunninghamiana''
(showing occurrence data and further images) {{Taxonbar, from=Q662316 cunninghamiana Trees of Australia Fagales of Australia Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Drought-tolerant trees