Allocasuarina lehmanniana

Allocasuarina lehmanniana, commonly known as dune sheoak, is a shrub in the family Casuarinaceae. Endemic to Western Australia, it is widespread along on the coast from the Murchison River south to Israelite Bay.

Allocasuarina lehmanniana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fagales
Family: Casuarinaceae
Genus: Allocasuarina
Species:
A. lehmanniana
Binomial name
Allocasuarina lehmanniana
(Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson
Occurrence data from AVH

Dune sheoak grows as an upright shrub from three to five metres tall (10–16 ft). As with other Allocasuarina species, its foliage consists of slender green branchlets informally referred to as "needles" but more correctly termed cladodes. The cladodes are segmented, and the true leaves are tiny teeth encircling each joint. Most specimens bear only male or female flowers, but some specimens will bear both. Male trees have small brown flower spikes at the end of branchlets. Female trees bear small flowers on short branchlets of their own. Fertilised flowers develop egg-shaped cones from 1½ to 3 centimetres (0.6–1.2 in) in diameter.

Dune Sheoak was first collected in 1840 by Johann Priess. The specific name lehmanniana honours the botanist Johann Lehmann.

There are two subspecies: Allocasuarina lehmanniana subsp. ecarinata and Allocasuarina lehmanniana subsp. lehmanniana.

References
    • Powell, Robert (1990). Leaf and Branch: Trees and Tall Shrubs of Perth. Department of Conservation and Land Management, Perth, Western Australia. ISBN 0-7309-3916-2.
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