Plants of
South Australia
Allocasuarina luehmannii
Casuarinaceae
Buloke,
Bull Oak
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
Least concern
Near threatened
Rare
Vulnerable
Endangered
Critically endangered
Extinct
Data deficient
Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
Marree
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Oodnadatta
Renmark
Wudinna
Keith
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 7

Prior names

Casuarina luehmannii

Common names

Buloke

Bull Oak

Etymology

Allocasuarina from the Greek 'allos' meaning other or different, indicating the relationship with the genus Casuarina (first used by Rumphius (1743), in allusion to the supposed resemblance of the "foliage" of Casuarina equisetifolia to the plumage of the Cassowary, which is from the Malay 'kesuari', later being latinised as Casuarius). Luehmannii named after Johann Georg Luehmann (1843–1904), a German botanist who worked at the National Herbarium, Royal Botanical Gardens, Melbourne for more than 30 years and was Assistant Botanist to Ferdinand von Mueller, who was then the Director of the Gardens.

Distribution and status

Found in upper South-east in South Australia, growing in heavy clay soils. Also found in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in the other states. As a plant community dominated by A. luehmannii it is considered very rare across its range.
Herbarium regions: Murray, South Eastern
NRM region: South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Dioecious tree to 15 m high, with ascending glaucescent branchlets. Articles (stem segments) terete, striate, smooth, to 18 mm long and 2 mm diameter with a central rounded ridge and 10-13 teeth (reduced leaves) around the end. Separate male and female flowers appearing between September to November. Fruits are short woody cone with only 2-3 rows of valves. Seed embryo type is investing.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between December and February. This species does not hold onto its fruits like other Allocasuarina species. Collected fruits that are fat, hard and slightly brown. Place cones in a tray and leave to dry for 2-3 weeks. This will allow the valves to dry and open releasing the seeds. Place the dried cones in a bucket and shake gently to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate seeds from the unwanted material. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. From one collection, the seed viability was average, at 60%. Seeds are non-dormant, viable seed should germinate readily.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA 
MSB
12,000 (32.45 g)
12,000 (32.45 g)
5013-Feb-2006KHB53
South Eastern
28-Jul-200660%-18°C
Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.