Casuarinaceae

Taxobox
name = Casuarinaceae

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = Common Ironwood ("Casuarina equisetifolia")
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Fagales
familia = Casuarinaceae
familia_authority = R.Br. in Flinders
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision = "Allocasuarina"
"Casuarina"
"Ceuthostoma"
"Gymnostoma"

Casuarinaceae is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants placed in the order Fagales, consisting of 3 or 4 genera and approximately 70 species of trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics (Indo-Malaysia), Australia, and the Pacific islands. At one time, all of the species were placed in the genus "Casuarina", but these are now split among "Allocasuarina", "Casuarina", "Ceuthostoma", and "Gymnostoma". In the Wettstein system, this family was the only one placed in the order Verticillatae. Likewise, in the Engler, Cronquist and Kubitzki systems, Casuarinaceae was the only family placed in the order Casuarinales.

Members of this family are characterized by drooping equisetoid (meaning "to look like "Equisetum") twigs, are evergreen, and monoecious or dioecious. The roots have nitrogen-fixing nodules that contain the soil actinomycete "Frankia".

The most widely used common name for Casuarinaceae species is sheoak or she-oak. Other common names include ironwood, bull-oak or buloke, and beefwood.

The Shire of Buloke in Victoria, Australia is named after the species "Allocasuarina luehmannii".

External links

* [http://www.mpl.ird.fr/rhizo Research team] from [http://www.ird.fr IRD] working on "Frankia"-Casuarinaceae mycorrhizal and nitrogen-fixing symbioses