Allocasuarina media
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{speciesbox
|image =
|status = VU
|status_system = EPBC
|genus = Allocasuarina
|species = media
|authority = L.A.S.Johnson{{cite web |title=Allocasuarina media |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/82304|website=Australian Plant Census|accessdate=17 June 2023}}
|range_map=AllocasuarinamediaDistributionMap31.png
|range_map_caption=Occurrence data from AVH
}}
Allocasuarina media is a species of flowering plant in the family Casuarinaceae and is endemic to a small area of Victoria. It is a dioecious, rarely a monoecious shrub that has more or less erect branchlets up to {{cvt|200|mm}} long, the leaves reduced to scales in whorls of six to eight, the fruiting cones usually {{cvt|14–27|mm}} long containing winged seeds (samaras) {{cvt|5–8|mm}} long.
Description
Allocasuarina media is a dioecious, or rarely a monoecious shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|1–3|m}} and has smooth bark. Its branchlets are more or less erect, up to {{cvt|200|mm}} long, the leaves reduced to erect or slightly spreading, scale-like teeth about {{cvt|0.5|mm}} long, arranged in whorls of six to eight around the branchlets. The sections of branchlet between the leaf whorls (the "articles") are {{cvt|5–12|mm}} long, {{cvt|0.5–0.8|mm}} wide. Male flowers are spikes {{cvt|10–45|mm}} long, often appearing like a string of beads, the anthers {{cvt|0.5–1|mm}} long. Female cones are cylindrical and sessile or on a peduncle up to {{cvt|15|mm}} long. Mature cones are cylindrical, mostly {{cvt|14–27|mm}} long and {{cvt|8–15|mm}} in diameter, the samaras dark reddish-brown to black, and {{cvt|5–8|mm}} long.{{cite web |last1=Entwisle |first1=Timothy J. |last2=Stajsic |first2=Val |title=Allocasuarina media |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/dc2a0b0f-08fb-4237-8b4e-d5ad2b1b87bd |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria |access-date=18 June 2023}}{{cite web |title=Allocasuarina media |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Allocasuarina%20media |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra |access-date=17 June 2023}}
This species is thought to be a well-established hybrid of A. littoralis and A. paradoxa.
Taxonomy
Allocasuarina media was first formally described in 1989 by Lawrie Johnson in the Flora of Australia from specimens collected in Wilsons Promontory National Park in 1986.{{cite web|title=Allocasuarina media|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/499361|publisher=APNI|access-date=18 June 2023}}{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Karen L. |last2=Johnson |first2=Lawrence A.S. |editor-last1=George|editor-first1=Alex S.|title=Flora of Australia |volume=3 |date=1989 |publisher=Australian Government Publishing Service |location=Canberra |page=197 |url=https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/env/pages/a08d125d-a6d0-47c4-85e9-9b7ac5d4931a/files/flora-australia-03-hamamelidales-casuarinales.pdf |access-date=17 June 2023}} The specific epithet, (media) means "middling" referring to its intermediate position between A. littoralis and A. paradoxa.
Distribution and habitat
This she-oak is only known from low woodland on the northern end of Wilsons Promontory and a single collection from near Gembrook.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=Allocasuarina+media#tab_mapView Occurrence data for Allocasuarina media] from The Australasian Virtual Herbarium
{{Taxonbar|from=Q15375373}}
Category:Flora of Victoria (state)