What a wonderful autumnal show we have been having along the coastal cliffs with the massed, dangling pale-orange tassels, or catkins, of the male Drooping Sheoaks, Allocasuarina verticillata.
Male Drooping Sheoak
The female trees have inconspicuous orange-red globular flowers and numerous old woody cones close to the branches.
Female Drooping Sheoak
The ‘leaves’ are not continuous like pine needles, as they are actually jointed branchlets. These separate easily and display the whorl of tiny, tooth-like leaves around each node. In inland woodlands the male Black Sheoaks, Allocasuarina littoralis, may also have similar displays, but with shorter, less spectacular catkins. Sheoaks are endemic to Australia and found mostly in the south.
Red Ironbarks, Eucalyptus tricarpa, are beginning their flower display. The creamy-white, occasionally pale-pink, ‘Snugglepot and Cuddlepie’ flowers hang down, grouped in threes. You may notice birds before seeing the flowers, as the flowers attract scores of squabbling honeyeaters competing for the nectar feast.
Red Ironbark in flower
Ellinor Campbell