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Casuarina glauca

Common name:	Swamp Oak	Family:	Casuarinaceae
Author:	Sieber. ex Spreng.	Botanical references:	200, 265
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	There is a report that the pollen might be allergenic[269].
Range:	Australia - New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria.
Habitat:	Usually found in swampy localities[156]. Near salt water estuaries, along sluggish creeks and occasionally on rising ground[265].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Gray She-oak [B], Gray Sheoak [P],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	glauca = glaucous;
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 18m. 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). It can fix Nitrogen. We rate it 1/5 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 and can grow in saline soil. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil. The plant can tolerates strong winds but not maritime exposure.

Habitats and Possible Locations

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

Edible Uses

Leaves.

The needles are chewed to relieve thirst[177]. We assume that this means the leaves[K].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

Shelterbelt; Wood.

The plant suckers freely and forms a good windbreak[167]. It has been used to reclaim land, especially eroded mountainsides, and to provide shelterbelts[269]. The plant can spread very freely by means of suckers and has become a noxious weed in some areas - its planting is banned in some parts of Florida[269]. Ditches are sometimes dug on either side of the shelterbelt planting in order to control its spread[269].
Wood - tough. Used for axe handles etc, it is said to be better than hickory (Carya spp) for this purpose[156]. The brownish timber is nicely marked and is used for fencing rails, shingles, salt water pilings, poles, charcoal and fuel[269]. Casuarina spp. have very dense wood, with a specific gravity of 0.8 - 1.2, and a calorific value of ca 5,000 kcal/kg[269]. The wood splits easily, and burns slowly with little smoke or ash[269]. It also can be burned when green, an important advantage in fuel short areas[269]. From their fourth year, trees shed about 4 tons cones/year. These, too, make good pellet-sized fuel (NAS, 1983e)[269].

Cultivation details

Requires a well-drained moisture-retentive soil in full sun[200]. Succeeds in most soils in Australian gardens, including saline ones, and is tolerant of salt spray[157, 167, 269]. Plants are reported to tolerate high pH, limestone soils, low pH, salt and sand dunes, water-logging, weeds, and wind[269]. Reported to tolerate an annual precipitation in the range of 50 to 400cm, estimated annual temperature range of 18 to 28°C, and a pH of 5 to 8[269]. Plants have grown in Israel under a soil crust of salt (50,000 ppm)[269].
Rarely tolerates temperatures lower than -3°C[269]. Tolerates temperatures down to at least -7°c in Australian gardens[157], and plants are said to tolerate frost in South Africa[269], although this cannot be translated directly to British gardens due to our cooler summers and longer, colder and wetter winters. It might succeed outdoors in the mildest areas of the country.
Spreading by means of root suckers, this species has become a pest in some parts of Florida[269].
Closely related to C. cunninghamiana, though somewhat less hardy[269], it often hybridises in the wild with that species[265]. In fine-textured clays, even in waterlogged soils, C. glauca can develop a deep root system, while C. cunninghamiana and C. equisetifolia develop shallow roots and grow poorly[269].
This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil micro-organisms, these form nodules on the roots of the plants and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[157]. Although Nitrogen nodulation is most successful at pH 6 to 8, some natural stands are well nodulated in acid soils (pH ca 4)[269].

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. There are between 700,000 - 970,000 seeds per kilo[269].
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

[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.
[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.
[HEC] Use, Folk Medicine, etc. from Handbook of Energy Crops by James Duke
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant 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

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[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.

[167] Holliday. I. and Hill. R. A Field Guide to Australian Trees. Frederick Muller Ltd. 1974 ISBN 0-85179-627-3
A well illustrated and very readable book, but it does not contain much information for the plant project.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[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.

[265] Carolin. R. & Tindale. M. Flora of the Sydney Region Reed. Australia. 1993 ISBN 0730104001
Concise flora with little beyond an extensive key, species descriptions, very brief habitat description.

[269] Duke. J. Handbook of Energy Crops - 1983
Published only on the Internet, excellent information on a wide range of plants.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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