Allocasuarina huegeliana
Encyclopedia
Allocasuarina huegeliana, commonly known as rock sheoak or sighing sheoak, is a tree
in the family
Casuarinaceae
. Endemic to Western Australia
, it occurs throughout the Wheatbelt. It is now especially common on road verges, where it sometimes forms thickets.
Rock sheoak grows to a height of between six and nine metres. It has sparse foliage that forms a rounded outline. Sometimes it branches at ground level, but usually has a bole
of a few metres. As with other Allocasuarina
species, the foliage consists of slender green branchlets informally referred to as "needles" but more correctly termed cladodes. These are segmented, and the true leaves are reduced to tiny teeth encircling each joint. 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 about 1½ to 3 centimetres wide.
Rock Sheoak was first collected on Mount Brown near York
in 1840 by Ludwig Preiss
. The specific name huegeliana honours the Austria
n naturalist
Baron Carl von Huegel. The common name "rock sheoak" refers to its habitat, which often contains granite rocks. The alternative common name "sighing sheoak" alludes to the sound of the wind in the foliage.
It is also used as host species in Sandalwood
plantations
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Casuarinaceae
Casuarinaceae
Casuarinaceae is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants placed in the order Fagales, consisting of 3 or 4 genera and approximately 70 species of trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics , Australia, and the Pacific Islands...
. Endemic to Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
, it occurs throughout the Wheatbelt. It is now especially common on road verges, where it sometimes forms thickets.
Rock sheoak grows to a height of between six and nine metres. It has sparse foliage that forms a rounded outline. Sometimes it branches at ground level, but usually has a bole
Bole
-Geographical locations:* Bole District, Ghana* Bole, Ghana, town* Bole, Nottinghamshire, England* Bole International Airport * Bole, Xinjiang, China-Other:* Bole2Harlem, an Ethiopian hip hop fusion band* Bole , a unit of momentum...
of a few metres. As with other Allocasuarina
Allocasuarina
Allocasuarina is a genus of trees in the flowering plant family Casuarinaceae. They are endemic to Australia, occurring primarily in the south. Like the closely related genus Casuarina, they are commonly called sheoaks or she-oaks, they are notable for their long, segmented branchlets that...
species, the foliage consists of slender green branchlets informally referred to as "needles" but more correctly termed cladodes. These are segmented, and the true leaves are reduced to tiny teeth encircling each joint. 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 about 1½ to 3 centimetres wide.
Rock Sheoak was first collected on Mount Brown near York
York, Western Australia
York is the oldest inland town in Western Australia, situated 97 km east of Perth in the Avon Valley near Northam, and is the seat of the Shire of York...
in 1840 by Ludwig Preiss
Ludwig Preiss
Johann August Ludwig Preiss was a German-born British botanist and zoologist.Preiss was born in Herzberg am Harz, Germany. He obtained a doctorate, probably at Hamburg, then emigrated to Western Australia...
. The specific name huegeliana honours the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
Baron Carl von Huegel. The common name "rock sheoak" refers to its habitat, which often contains granite rocks. The alternative common name "sighing sheoak" alludes to the sound of the wind in the foliage.
It is also used as host species in Sandalwood
Santalum spicatum
Santalum spicatum, a species known as Australian sandalwood, is a tree native to semi-arid areas at the edge of Southwest Australia. It is traded as sandalwood and its valuable oil has been used as an aromatic, a medicine and a food source. S...
plantations