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Casuarina cristata

Common name:		Family:	Casuarinaceae
Author:	Miq.	Botanical references:	200
Synonyms:	Casuarina lepidophylla
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Australia - New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia.
Habitat:	Drier areas[157], usually on heavier soils and avoiding ridges[156].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	0	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	C. lepidophloia[B,G,H,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Belah [H,P,B],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	cristata = crested
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Casuarinales. She-oak family
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: Florida.

Physical Characteristics

An evergreen tree growing to 12m at a fast rate. It is hardy to zone 9. It is in leaf all year. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant). We rate it 0/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Canopy, Secondary, By Walls, By South Wall, By West Wall.

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

Fuel Tannin Wood.

The bark is rich in tannin[229].
Wood - very hard, not durable, takes a good polish. Mainly used for furniture and fencing, it is also a good fuel[156, 229].

Cultivation details

Requires a well-drained moisture-retentive soil in full sun[200]. A report for Australian gardens says that it prefers growing in dry areas but also thrives in very wet soils[157]. Fast growing[157].
This plant tolerates temperatures down to at least -7° c in Australian gardens[157] although this cannot be translated directly to British gardens due to our cooler summers and longer, colder wetter winters. It might succeed outdoors in the mildest areas of the country[200].
The plant produces suckers from the roots and often forms dense groves[229].
Unlike most members of this genus, this plant does not fix atmospheric nitrogen[200].

Propagation

Seed - sow late winter to early summer in a greenhouse and only just cover the seed[138]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in a greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame[157, 200].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Casuarina lepidophloia (a possible synonym).

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

References for the family Casuarinaceae.

[CHINA] Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[138] Bird. R. (Editor) Growing from Seed. Volume 3. Thompson and Morgan. 1989
Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation.

[156] Cribb. A. B. and J. W. Useful Wild Plants in Australia. William Collins Pty Ltd. Sidney 1981 ISBN 0-00-216441-8
A very readable book.

[157] Wrigley. J. W. and Fagg. M. Australian Native Plants. Collins. (Australia) 1988 ISBN 0-7322-0021-0
A lovely book, written in order to encourage Australian gardeners to grow their native plants. A little bit of information for the plant project.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[229] Elias. T. The Complete Trees of N. America. Field Guide and Natural History. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. 1980 ISBN 0442238622
A very good concise guide. Gives habitats, good descriptions, maps showing distribution and a few of the uses. It also includes the many shrubs that occasionally reach tree proportions.

Readers Comments

Casuarina cristata

() Mon Mar 11 07:13:33 2002

The Casuarina cristata is found in central Australian, it is important to this environment because it stops fires. The reason for this is beacuse of its low litter accumulation. Therefore it is important not a noxious weed.

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Casuarina+cristata
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