Casuarina Cunninghamiana - River She-oak

Casuarina cunninghamiana, commonly known as River She-oak, it is the largest of the she-oaks and is a fast-growing tree with fine, needle-like foliage. It’s often planted along waterways for erosion control, windbreaks, and shade, and it provides excellent habitat for birds - and an important food source for cockatoos in the abcense of other she-oaks. This species is also nitrogen-fixing, helping improve soil health in degraded areas. 

The timber of Casuarina cunninghamiana (River She-oak) is dense, fine-grained, and reddish-brown, known for both its beauty and strength. While not widely used commercially on a large scale, it’s highly valued in smaller or local applications, especially for its workability and attractive finish.

While it isn’t widely known as a primary fodder tree, it does have some fodder value. Its needle-like branchlets (actually modified stems called cladodes) are sometimes browsed by livestock, particularly in drought conditions when other feed is scarce. It has the potential for integration into agroforestry systems that wish to get multiple benefits from one species - timber, windbreak, erosion control and fodder.

🌳 Height:
15–35 metres

🌿 Width:
5–10 metres

🔧 Uses:

• Riparian restoration and erosion control
• Windbreaks and shelterbelts
• Shade and screening tree
• Revegetation and land rehabilitation
• Timber
• Firewood - once known as "bakers fuel"

🌱 Ideal growing conditions:

• Full sun to part shade
• Moist, well-drained soils, particularly near rivers and creeks
• Tolerates seasonal flooding

💪 Tolerates:

• Poor soils, seasonal water logging, compacted soils
  

💧 Drought hardy:
Yes — once established

❄️ Frost tolerant:
Yes — tolerates moderate frost

🧂 Salt tolerant:
Moderate — can grow in mildly saline soils and coastal areas