Casuarina fraseriana
| Allocasuarina fraseriana | |
|---|---|
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| A. fraseriana in Albany | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fagales |
| Family: | Casuarinaceae |
| Genus: | Allocasuarina |
| Species: | A. fraseriana |
| Binomial name | |
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Allocasuarina fraseriana (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson |
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Allocasuarina fraseriana, commonly known as western sheoak, common sheoak, WA sheoak.Fraser's sheoak or just sheoak, is a tree in the family Casuarinaceae. Endemic to Western Australia, it occurs near the coast in the south west corner of the State, from Jurien (30° S) to Albany (35° S). The Noongar peoples know the tree as Condil,Kulli or Gulli.
In ideal conditions, Western Sheoak grows to a height of about 15 metres (49 ft). Where exposed to salty coastal breezes, however, it is usually somewhat smaller. It usually has a diameter of 0.5 to 1 metre (1.6 to 3.3 ft) at breast height. As with other Allocasuarina species, its "foliage" consists of slender green branchlets informally referred to as "needles" but more correctly termed . The cladodes are segmented, and the true leaves are tiny teeth encircling each joint. Male trees have small brown flower spikes at the end of branchlets. Flowering is prolific, giving male trees a rusty brown hue during flowering in late winter and early spring. Female trees bear small flowers on short branchlets of their own. Fertilised flowers develop egg-shaped cones from 1½ to 3½ centimetres in diameter.
The tree has a distribution from with the bulk of the population being found in the South West hinterland to the Great Southern regions of Western Australia with smaller populations being found between Jurien and Moora. It grows in lateritic soils in the understorey of Eucalyptus marginata forest on the Darling Range and in areas near the coast it is found in sandy soils in woodland and open forest.
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