Casuarina cone

The casuarina, commonly known as sheoak, has 17 species native to Australia and elsewhere in the southern hemisphere. Nearly all species are dioecious, meaning that male flowers, and female flowers and cones, are on separate trees.

The cones (or fruit) are about 1.5cm long, very hard and woody and are made up of numerous carpels, each containing a winged seed.

I took this photo in the Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden whose 123 hectares include a number of walking tracks, one of which I did with my bushwalking group today. It was perfect, having just rained and not too hot. Several wildflowers were blooming, including two of my favourites, boronia and tiny flannel flowers. But the brief was 'hard', so we have a casuarina cone.

Thanks for hosting ApolloFly. Stay well all.