Allocasuarina

Allocasuarina is a genus of plants in the Casuarinaceae family. It is endemic to Australia, especially the south. It comprises 61 described and accepted species.

Description

Like the closely related genus Casuarina Aiton, they are distinguished by their long segments of leaf-like branches, these branches resembling pine needles. The leaves are tiny attached to each set, when they fall they form a dense carpet under the plant that prevents the development of weeds.

Another of its characteristics are the spiny cones the size of an acorn, but with the texture of a coniferous cone, they are actually timber fruits.

Like legumes, their roots have symbiotic nodules that contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria that, with their adaptation to drought, make them thrive in poor soils and semi-arid areas, however they are less tolerant of fire than eucalyptus trees.

Due to its power to grow in poor soils, it is used to stabilize soils exposed to erosion or in dunes.

Taxonomy

The genus was described by Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson and published in the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens 6(1): 73–74. 1982. The type species is: Allocasuarina torulosa (Aiton) L.A.S.Johnson

Accepted species

The following is a list of the species of the genus Allocasuarina accepted up to October 2013, arranged alphabetically. For each one, the binomial name followed by the author is indicated, abbreviated according to conventions and uses.

• Allocasuarina acutivalvis (F.Muell.)
• Allocasuarina brachystachya L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina campestris (Diels) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina corniculata (F.Muell.)
• Allocasuarina crassa L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina decaisneana (F.Muell.)
• Allocasuarina decussata (Benth.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina defungens L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina dielsiana (C.A.Gardner) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina diminuta L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina distyla (Vent.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina drummondiana (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina duncanii L.A.S.Johnson & D.I.Morris
• Allocasuarina emuina L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina eriochlamys (L.A.S.Johnson) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina fibrosa (C.A.Gardner) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina filidens L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina phrasiana (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina glareicola L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina globosa L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina grampiana L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina grevilleoides (Diels) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina gymnanthera L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina helmsii (Ewart & M.Gordon) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina huegeliana (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina humilis (Otto A.Dietr.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina inophloia (F.Muell. & F.M.Bailey) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina lehmanniana (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina littoralis (Salisb.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina luehmannii L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina mackliniana L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina media L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina microstachya (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina misera L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina monilifera (L.A.S.Johnson) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina pieriana (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina nana (Sieber ex Spreng.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina ophiolitica L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina paludosa (Sieber ex Spreng.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina paradoxa (Macklin) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina pinaster (C.A.Gardner) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina portuensis L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina pusilla (Macklin) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina ramosissima (C.A.Gardner) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina rigida (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina robusta (Macklin) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina rupicola L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina scleroclada (L.A.S.Johnson) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina simulans L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina sp. Shaw Island
• Allocasuarina spinosisima (C.A.Gardner) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina striata (Macklin) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina tessellata (C.A.Gardner) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina thalassoscopica
• Allocasuarina thuyoides (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina tortiramula E.M.Benn.
• Allocasuarina torulosa (Aiton) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina trichodon (Miq.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina verticillata (Lam.) L.A.S.Johnson
• Allocasuarina zephyrea L.A.S.Johnson