Casuarina cunninghamiana
kazh-you-RYE-nuh kuh-ning-hamee-AN-nuh

River She-Oak
Casuarinaceae (Casuarina family)
Origin: Australia

Species characteristics:
Form - Evergreen. Fast growing in youth to 70' at maturity with a
20 - 40' spread. May be upright or rounded. Makes an attractive silhouette. Branches are slender, pliant and graceful. Often mistaken for other Casuarinas.

Trunk - Bark is gray with small platelets.

Foliage - Not a pine, but similar in appearance due to dark green, horsetail type twigs which look like long needles. Actual leaves are reduced to whorls of 7 pointed scales fused at the base to form a sheath at each end of the nodes. Internodes at 1/3" to 1/2" along the needlelike twigs.

Flowers/fruit - Male and female flowers are inconspicuous and separate.

No significant pest problems are known at this time. .

Site suitability:
Sunset zones: 8, 9, and 12 - 24.

Clearances - Suitable for 6' minimum parkways, medians or cutouts.

Good for street sides, medians, parks and lawns.

Culture considerations:
Adapts to conditions too harsh for most other trees. Tolerant of dry, wet, alkaline or saline soils, or desert and seacoast exposure.