Casuarina glauca (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Casuarina glauca Sieber ex Sprengel

Family: Casuarinaceae

• Swamp she-oak, swamp oak (En)
• Malaysia: ru paya (Peninsular).

Native to Australia in a narrow belt along the east coast, introduced into other areas for dry-land afforestation (e.g. Israel), planted in Singapore.

Suitable for thick hedges on swampy or sandy soils, as pruning will encourage root suckers. Used for firewood in its native habitat and considered worth testing as a firewood crop elsewhere.

Dioecious, medium-sized tree up to 15(-20) m tall and 60 cm in diameter. Twigs needle-like, branchlets spreading to drooping, up to 38 cm long, articulate, articulations 8-20 mm long, leaves reduced to 12-17(-20) "teeth". Male spike 1.2-4 cm long; female cone 9-18 mm × 7-9 mm. Fruit a compound cone-like structure, 1-2 cm × 1-1.5 cm. C. glauca occurs characteristically in the swampy margins of tidal areas.

34, 108, 116, 117, 152, 180.

M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen