Drooping she-oak

Allocasuarina verticillata

Small to medium southeastern Australian native she-oak with strongly drooping weeping foliage and dark furrowed bark. A tough drought- and frost-tolerant inland windbreak across southern Australia.

Hardiness ratings

Drooping she-oak hardiness across the four zone systems
SystemRatingTemperature rangeHow to read it
USDA hardiness zone Zone 8–11 −12.2 °C to 10 °C Plant tolerates down to this zone
RHS hardiness rating H3 −5 °C to 1 °C Plant needs at least this level of cold tolerance
Canadian plant hardiness zone Zone 9 −1 °C and warmer Plant tolerates down to this zone
Australian (ANBG) zone Zone 3–7 −5 °C and warmer Plant tolerates down to this zone

Growing notes

  • Distinct from the related black she-oak Allocasuarina littoralis (already in the database as `allocasuarina`) — drooping she-oak has more strongly pendulous foliage and a wider drier climate range
  • Drought tolerant, frost tolerant, lime tolerant — succeeds across a wider environmental range than most she-oaks, including the southern Australian wheat belt
  • Fixes nitrogen via actinorhizal Frankia bacteria in root nodules — improves poor soils
  • Major host plant for the endangered glossy black-cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami), which feeds almost exclusively on the cones — a key conservation planting in southeastern Australia

Categories

Related plants

Cross-check Drooping she-oak against your zones

Reference

Drooping she-oak on Wikipedia