Allocasuarina fibrosa, commonly known as woolly sheoak,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Casuarinaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a dioecious shrub that has branchlets 20–50 mm (0.79–1.97 in) long, the leaves reduced to scales in whorls of four, and the mature fruiting cones 11–25 mm (0.43–0.98 in) long containing winged seeds (samaras) 6–7 mm (0.24–0.28 in) long.
Description
Allocasuarina fibrosa is a dioecious shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.5–1.5 m (1 ft 8 in – 4 ft 11 in). Its branchlets are 20–50 mm (0.79–1.97 in) long, the leaves reduced to erect, scale-like teeth 1.5–2.0 mm (0.059–0.079 in) long, arranged in whorls of four around the branchlets. The sections of branchlet between the leaf whorls (the "articles") are 8–16 mm (0.31–0.63 in) long. Male flowers are arranged in spikes 4–7 mm (0.16–0.28 in) long, the anthers 0.5–0.6 mm (0.020–0.024 in) long. Female cones are more or less cylindrical to spherical and covered with hairs, mature cones 11–25 mm (0.43–0.98 in) long and 9–11 mm (0.35–0.43 in) in diameter, often with awn-like projections up to 2 mm (0.079 in) long. The samaras brown to black and 6–7 mm (0.24–0.28 in) long. Flowering occurs in July and August. This sheoak is similar to Allocasuarina grevilleoides.[2][3][4]
Woolly sheoak grows in tall, open heath in sandy soil over laterite and is only known from several populations near Tammin and Quairading in the Avon Wheatbelt bioregion of south-western Western Australia.[2][3][8]
^ ab"Allocasuarina fibrosa". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
^Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 198. ISBN9780958034180.
