Casuarina glauca - prostrate mutant 080516-7360
Cape Bailey, Botany Bay National Park, New South Wales -- about 20 km SSE of Sydney.
Normally a tree to 20 m or more tall, this species has produced these remarkable mutant plants on a number of exposed headlands and clifftops along the NSW coast. These mounds of prostrate stems are so dense you can walk over them. I have never seen them producing flowers or fruiting 'cones', so it's a mystery how the form has managed to spread. The normal C. glauca is notable for its salt-tolerance, often growing where the groundwater is brackish.
Casuarina glauca - prostrate mutant 080516-7360
Cape Bailey, Botany Bay National Park, New South Wales -- about 20 km SSE of Sydney.
Normally a tree to 20 m or more tall, this species has produced these remarkable mutant plants on a number of exposed headlands and clifftops along the NSW coast. These mounds of prostrate stems are so dense you can walk over them. I have never seen them producing flowers or fruiting 'cones', so it's a mystery how the form has managed to spread. The normal C. glauca is notable for its salt-tolerance, often growing where the groundwater is brackish.