Allocasuarina zephyrea



Allocasuarina zephyrea is a species of flowering plant in the family Casuarinaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. It is a dioecious shrub that has branchlets up to 190 mm long, the leaves reduced to scales in whorls of seven to nine or ten, the fruiting cones 10–25 mm long containing winged seeds 4.0–5.5 mm long.

Description
Allocasuarina zephyrea is a dioecious shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.5–2 m. Its branchlets are up to 190 mm long, the leaves reduced to scale-like teeth 0.4–1.2 mm long, arranged in whorls of seven to nine or ten around the branchlets. The sections of branchlet between the leaf whorls are 4–15 mm long, 0.6–1.3 mm wide. Male flowers are arranged in spikes 10–35 mm long, with 5 to 7 whorls per centimetre (per 0.39 in.), the anthers 0.7–0.9 mm long. Female cones are on a peduncle 2–15 mm long, and mature cones 10–25 mm long and 6–11 mm in diameter, containing black, winged seeds 4.0–5.5 mm long. This allocasuarina is similar to A. grampiana.

Taxonomy
Allocasuarina zephyrea was first formally described in 1989 by the botanist Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson in the Flora of Australia at Ocean Beach near Strahan in 1949. The specific epithet (zephyrea) means "west wind", referring to the species' occurrence on the western side of Tasmania.

Habitat and distribution
Allocasuarina zephyrea is endemic to Tasmania, growing in woodland, heath, sedgeland and on rocky outcrops from the western lowlands to central and south-eastern highlands, as well as on King Island.