Allocasuarina inophloia, stringybark she oak.

[Joel]

Allocasuarina inophloia is a species that i really want to use as bonsai. Does anybody on here use them? I cant imagine they would be too different to Casuarina species.

The real feature is their bark. Very stringy, even more so than the stringy bark gums. I have seen some at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. They are fairly small (3 metres tall) but their bark has already become stringy.

The species is native to northern NSW and Queensland, and more information about this tree can be found at the following website: http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2006 ... hloia.html

JayC

[kcpoole]

Nice Jay
get a couple and doco them for us

Ken

[Joel]

Ill try my best to find some Ken.

Cheers,
JayC

[Pup]

That is one weird looking sweet tree.
Cousin It, of Addams Family comes to mind.
I too would be interested in its proggression if you do locate some, JayC

Thank you for the post,cheers Pup

[Joel]

Thanks for the reply Pup!

Talking about "cousin it", that is a cultivar name of another Casuarina i want to try. I believe it is Casuarina glauca "Cousin It", though it could be another species. Its is a ground-cover she oak that i think would look great if it were staked up and allowed to weep, like an Acacia howitii prostrata or weeping willow (Salix babylonica).

Here is a (small) pic of "Cousin It": http://www.ramm.com.au/images/thumbs/th ... 23e4f8.jpg

Thanks guys!
JayC

[Kunzea]

Hi Joel
I just discovered this thread. I was googling for C. "Cousin It", which took me here!

I recently bought a plant of Cousin It and have wondered if anyone is growing it as bonsai and what their experiences have been. I noticed in the some sites that the tolerance to frost is not known. I guess I will find out in the coming months! Its very strongly weeping branchlets make styling either simple or hard! I like your idea of training a trunk up and then letting the brances cascade/weep naturally as with A howittii. I had lightly wired the most central branch of the profusion into an upright position. As it is early days, I'll have to wait to see how quickly the 'trunks/branches' thicken. They are currently very thin as only nursery stock so far. How have yours come through this last summers growing season?

Regarding A. inophloia, I've been growing one for quite a number of years. It has been a bit challenging. It has developed a large lignotuber, which is OK, but it produces dozens of new shoots throughout the growing season. I rub these off. It started to split the bark to form the characteristic 'woolly' quality when the trunk was about 7 years old. This has only proceeded slowly since then. I'm pretty sure that one factor needed is to let the trunk grow much fatter (mine are still only about 15mm. I've increased the pot size, but will consider putting them into something quite large to allow the trunk to fatten rapidly. As it does, there will be 'pressure' for the bark to split. I noticed on a tree at the Botanic Gardens here that it seems to take about 5-7 years on their mature tree before the bark starts to split, but then their branches continue to fatten in diameter, whereas mine don't - a factor of growing in too small a pot I'm sure. Mine is in a rectangular pot about 300 mm on the long axis. How is yours going?

I noticed that Allocasuarina inophloia doesn't have an entry under the 'Australian native Species' list of this site. I could only find it when I searched for 'inophloia'. Who can update the 'index'?

cheers
K

[Joel]

Hi Kunzea,

Unfortunately i do not own either of these trees. I have not been able to locate any A. inophloia for sale or cuttings and i have not bothered to purchase a "Cousin It" because Ray Nesci told me he has done tests on them and the wood does not become thick or stiffen sufficiently to support its own weight. He also tried the staking technique like that used with Acacia howittii.

The A. inophoia at the RBG Sydney were not overly thick. I estimate the trunk diameter was only 2.5 cm when i saw them, though the woolly bark protruded much further giving the illusion of a much thicker trunk.

Would you be able to provide a photo of your tree?

Many thanks!
Joel