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Common name: She-oak Family.
Number of genera 4. Number of species 70.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit (fruiting head).
Fruits
Pistil(s) 1; 1-pistillate. Fruit anthocarp, or pericarpium; simple; samara (individual fruits are samaras, but they are within a conelike structure named trymconum); compound, or multiple; trymoconum (Allocasuarina fraseriana (Miq.) L. A. S. Johnson, Spjut Fig. 53A & 2 families Casuarinaceae, Cyclanthaceae); without persistent central column; within accessory organ(s); imbricately arranged with conelike structure and within woody bracteoles; 1-seeded; 1-seeded; 1-carpellate; apex not beaked; indehiscent. Epicarp brown (all shades), or black, or gray, or yellow; shiny, or dull; durable; without armature; with wing(s); 1-winged; with wing(s) apical; without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; thin; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; smooth; without wing; without operculum; without secretory cavities; without mechanism for seedling escape; without grooves; without longitudinal ridges. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril absent. Seed minute; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity without food reserves, or with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present, or absent; adnate to epicarp; without embryo surrounded and capped by viscid tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; surface smooth; without crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle; without notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approach each other; without glands; without bristles; glabrous; without wings; without collar; without operculum; transparent; monochrome; thin, or membranous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo. Endosperm development nuclear.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; completely filling testa (no food reserve); at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; straight; parallel to seed length; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle (nearly); without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; with cotyledons containing oils; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.28 times length of embryo; 2–3 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; thick; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed (at best); straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Old World. Southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania (mainly Australia).
Notes
Samara is seedlike in appearance and enclosed in woody bracteole which separate at maturity. Woody head of bracteoles resembles miniature pine cones.
Weed information
1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Florida (FL).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Casuarina spp.: USA state noxious weed: FLª. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Casuarina L. spp. -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Casuarina cunninghamiana Miq.w -- Casuarina equisetifolia L.w -- Symbols: aagricultural and vegetable seeds (Table 2A Part 1); ttree and shrub species (Table 2A Part 2); fflower, spice, herb, and medicinal seeds (Table 2A Part 3); wweed seeds. -- Last updated September 2008.
Accepted genera
Allocasuarina L. A. S. Johnson -- Casuarina L. -- Ceuthostoma L. A. S. Johnson -- Gymnostoma L. A. S. Johnson
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 229. Johnson, L.A.S. & K.L. Wilson. 1989. Casurarinaceae: A synopsis. In: P.R. Crane & S. Blackmore, eds., Evolution, Systematics, and Fossil History of the Hamamelidae. Vol 2: 'Higher' Hamamelidae. Systematics Association Special Volume No. 40B, pp. 167–188. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
General references
Corner, E.J.H. 1976. The seeds of Dicots, esp. vol. 2. Cambridge University Press, New York, Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Goldberg, A. 1986 (dicots) and 1989 (monocots). Classification, evolution, and phylogeny of the familes of Dicotyledons. Smithsonian Contr. Bot. 58 for dicots (314 pp.) and 71 for monocots (74 pp.). [Goldberg's illustrations are reproduced from older publications and these should be consulted], Gunn, C.R., J.H. Wiersema, C.A. Ritchie, and J.H. Kirkbride, Jr. 1992 and amendments. Families and genera of Spermatophytes recognized by the Agricultural Research Service. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1796:1–500, Schopmeyer, C.S. 1974. Seeds of Woody plants in the United States. Agric. Handb. 450:1–883, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182, Wood, C.E., Jr. 1974. A student's atlas of flowering plants: Some dicotyledons of eastern North America, 120 pp. Harper and Row, New York.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations for only Casuarina. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne, Schopmeyer, Wood, Jr. (all with head & single fruit), Johnson & Wilson (1989, heads only). Seed illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne, Wood, Jr. Embryo illustration(s): Schopmeyer, Wood, Jr.
• Cone. 1 of 3. Allocasuarina torulosa (Aiton) L. A. S. Johnson: cone. • Seed. 2 of 3. Allocasuarina torulosa (Aiton) L. A. S. Johnson: seed. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Gymnostoma nodiflorum (Thunb.) L. A. S. Johnson: embryo.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘J.H. Kirkbride, Jr., C.R. Gunn, and M.J. Dallwitz. 2000 onwards. Family guide for fruits and seeds: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 12th April 2021. delta-intkey.com’.
