Allocasuarina pusilla
(Macklin) L.A.S.Johnson Dwarf SheoakDioecious spreading shrub 0.2–2 m high; penultimate branchlets woody. Bark smooth. Branchlets ascending or spreading, to 12 cm long; internodes 3–9 mm long, 0.4–1 mm diam., smooth, branchlet furrows glabrous at maturity (young shoots sometimes with minute hairs); ribs flat or slightly rounded, with faint median groove or line. Teeth 5–7, erect and appressed, 0.3–0.5 mm long, overlapping, only withered at apex. Male spikes 3–20 mm long, 8–11 whorls per cm; anther 0.6–1 mm long; bracteoles persistent. Cones subglobose to shortly cylindric, occasionally as broad as long, sessile; cone body 10–15 mm long, 8–11(–13) mm diam.; valves in several rows, hardly extending beyond cone body, broadly acute to obtuse, pyramidal protuberance shorter than bracteole body. Winged seeds c. 5 mm long, very dark brown to black. Flowers mostly spring.
LoM, MuM, Wim, GleP, GipP, OtP, WaP, CVU, GGr, DunT, EGL, WPro, HSF, OtR, Strz. Also SA. Low, often more or less flat-topped shrub in heath on sandy soils.
Differs from Allocasuarina mackliniana and A. paradoxa in having thinner, glabrous branchlets usually with a waxy bloom; flat to rounded ribs with a median line or groove; short, erect teeth; and slender male spikes.
Entwisle, T.J. (1996). Casuarinaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 90–101. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
