Allocasuarina thalassoscopica

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids  > Fagales > Casuarinaceae > Allocasuarina  thalassoscopica

Other links:     

Common name:         ...

Conservation status: Endangered

• Allocasuarina thalassoscopica is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, and the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992

• The main threats to the species are vegetation clearing and inappropriate fire regimes

Etymology:   

• The specific epithet, (thalassoscopica) means "sea-watcher", referring to its situation on a mountain slope, facing the sea

Flowers

• Male flowers are arranged in spikes 5–45 mm long, with mostly 6 to 10 whorls per cm, the anthers 0.5–1.0 mm long

• Female cones are on a peduncle 3–14 mm long, and mature cones 12–28 mm long and 8–18 mm in diameter, containing dark brown to blackish, winged seeds 4.0–8.0 mm long

Fruit:                            

Leaves:         

• The leaves reduced to scale-like teeth 0.3–0.6 mm long, arranged in whorls of five to seven around the branchlets

Stem & branches: 

• Its branchlets are up to 120 mm long, sometimes to 180 mm long

• The sections of branchlet between the leaf whorls are 3–12 mm long, 0.5–0.9 mm wide

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A spreading to erect, dioecious shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.5–1.5 m and has smooth or fissured bark

Habitat:   

Distribution:                  

• This she-oak forms a dense, low, closed heath on the windswept south-facing upper slopes of Mount Coolum and along the coast from Noosa Heads in south-east Queensland to Diamond Beach in northern NSW

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • It was first described in 1989 by Lawrie Johnson in the Flora of Australia

Sources of information:

•  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allocasuarina_thalassoscopica (2023)