AusBonsai

I have these every where and thought they were a pine but clearly they're not! Leaves are long tubular (seem solid)...


Cheers
EZ
Via Tapatalk

mildly classified as a Australian Pine,but looks like a Casuarina Turolosa.All over Aus.

looks like a hakea going be the pods

Definitely in the family Proteaceae, probably the genus Hakea. My knowledge of WA Proteaceae is very limited but try reading some descriptions of Hakea lorea and see if that fits.

Thx all, will see what I can find out...


Cheers
Elmar

Definitely a hakea but like Joel I do not know the WA species. Interesting that all the seed capsules are open. Most hakeas stay closed until the tree is killed then the pods open to release the seed. The corky bark is nice as well.

Yer I thought so. Actually I thought it might have been a casuarina or a pine... But there was a fire that went thru this area oh 12 months ago... I looked around to see if I could find any seeds to no avail.

They look interesting; any good for Bonsai?


Cheers
Elmar

Closest I can find is hakea invaginata.


Cheers
Elmar

It is an Australian Native, Casuarina or common name :Sheok. Not sure which one this is though, would need to see it up close with "Costermanns" as a guide.

sweetcookie2013 wrote:It is an Australian Native, Casuarina or common name :Sheok. Not sure which one this is though, would need to see it up close with "Costermanns" as a guide.

That was one of my first hopes as well because I love the way it looks ... but it isn't. Unfortunately Costermanns is't much help as the book refers to South East Australia and I am in the north of WA.

I have been looking for Hakea pictures and the seed pods match, their leaves are so varied tho, and there haven't been any pictures of the stem or close ups of the overall tree for me to compare to the local specimen... I haven't yet seen these in flower (or noticed them before in flower) so I can't even confirm the ID above. I believe it to be a Hakea not only because of the seed pods but also the leaves look similar to what I have found.

It's the species that still vexes me, AND their suitability to bonsai...

The bark is unreal. Very much like allocasuarina torulosa. But I think those leaves may be hard to reduce.

Maybe worth giving a go just for the bark. Remember being a wa proteaceae they will need a low phosphorus fert if you can find seed and get some going.

That is NOT Allocasuarina torulosa, so we should end the cas suggestions. The new growth does not resemble Allo Torulosa at all. On Allocasuarina torulosa it is quite obvious the segmented new growth, and the small lines you get going parallel on the smooth new branches just before the needles start, which this does not have. Then, as Treeman rightly points out, the pods confirm it is definitely not. Move on people, nothing more to see here.

Check out this Vid.

Pretty sure Will Fletcher has a Hakea in there which from memory looked epic.

Re. Suitability - get involved and keep us posted!

I wasn't suggesting it was Allocasuarina torulosa but that the bark is reminiscent of that species. I think it's well established that it is a Hakea (my first guess also). Hence the comment of it being a Proteaceae and the difficulty of reducing the leaves.

dansai wrote:I wasn't suggesting it was Allocasuarina torulosa but that the bark is reminiscent of that species. I think it's well established that it is a Hakea (my first guess also). Hence the comment of it being a Proteaceae and the difficulty of reducing the leaves.

I did notice that and my post was not directed at you in any way Dansai.
It was directed towards those who said it 'was' a casuarina or thought it still might be. I was merely trying to explain to those 'why' it definitely is not a casuarina so they would know in future.