Thread: Timber ID. Grevillea or Casuarina ?

Dry, planed surface.

DSC_9263.jpg

Wet with damp rag
DSC_9264.jpg

DSC_9266.jpg

This piece is the natural edge closest to the rule, the cut/planed surface at top
DSC_9268.jpg

DSC_9274.jpg

Some barks shots
DSC_9269.jpg

DSC_9271.jpg

DSC_9272.jpg

Thanks Ironwood, those excellent pics of the wood strengthen my views that this wood is more like a Casuarina sp. rather than a Grevillea.

However, I realise that that my id is in conflict with the flowers and leaves which are profoundly different between these two possibilities and I agree they support your contention that its a Grevillea.

Of course I can be wrong and invite the opinion of others which may live in your part of the world where species of both Genera are found.
Lets hear from others ..
Best wishes, Euge

PS: I'm attending a IWCS wood id meeting and will ask a few others for their views.

As I said in the other thread Euge, this was over 20 years ago and my memory of it is sketchy.
I think these trees had lost their leaves by the time I came upon them, but the predominant species of the area was as I described, so I assumed they were all the same type.

Originally Posted by Ironwood

As I said in the other thread Euge, this was over 20 years ago and my memory of it is sketchy.
I think these trees had lost their leaves by the time I came upon them, but the predominant species of the area was as I described, so I assumed they were all the same type.

Thanks Ironwood, old memories can be in error as I have often found. I could not find a Casuarina from FNQ except Cas. equisetifolia (Beach or Horsetail Sheaok) but my sample came from Florida where its a pest).

Hope you dont mind me showing some images I just made of two casuarinas I could get my hands on easily...

a) Casuarina leuhmannii (Buloke or Bull Oak) which grows in drier areas of Qld, NSW and Western Vic

and

b) Casuarina obesa ex WA

finally will include a dryland Grevillea (G striata or Beefwood) for comparison

There are dozens of course and there woods vary quite a lot.

IMG_5698.jpg

IMG_5699.jpg


IMG_5700.jpg

Above : Bull Oak

IMG_5701.jpg

Below Casuarina obesa ex WA

IMG_5702.jpg

IMG_5703.jpg

Below: Inland Beefwood (Grevillea striata)

IMG_5706.jpg

Ironwood,

Could it be this one Cas. littoralis? Factsheet - Allocasuarina littoralis

Although its much bigger than you describe, it woud be small under some tough conditions. It grows right to top end

Euge

Edit to add extra ref: https://bie.ala.org.au/species/http:...e/apni/2907962

this ref show flowers bark cones etc

You’re probably right Euge, it’s just too long ago for me to be able to say one way or the other with any certainty. I have a pen blank marked “Black Sheoak” somewhere, I will have to see if I can find it.

I would like to go back up there one day, when I do, I will check those trees out a bit more closely.

Euge & Brad, I've hesitated to weigh into the debate because I hate committing myself on a picture, but I'd put my money on the OP wood being an Allocasuarina, & almost certainly not Grevillea.

Everything about it says She-oak to me; those long, continuous medullary rays (they tend to be stop/start in the Ptroteaceae, as demonstrated in Euge's pic of the G. striata) with what I call 'spider-web' growth rings between them, is so characteristic of all of the Casuarinas I've met. The bark & surface of the sapwood are also characteristically Casuarina. The only A. littoralis wood I've seen (from Stradbroke Is.) was a much deeper colour, but it was from large, mature trees & your specimen was from a different site & small tree (colour is a very unreliable feature in id'ng most woods, anyway).

As I said, a picture can be misleading, and I'm not at all familiar with the trees & their woods from that part of the world, so I won't be surprised if I'm wrong, but I reckon it's worth a sizeable bet (at least a full stubby!) that your wood is an Allocasuarina & not a Grevillea....

Cheers,

Thanks for weighing in Ian. I suspect Euge and yourself are right.
When I collected the timber, the internet would have been in its infancy, so the sources of information available and the networking were not like we have now. And at the time, it didn’t matter too much to me what it was called, I just knew it was beautiful to look at.
I used the majority of what I had, to make bud vases which were given to family and friends, also a few pens here and there. The recipients didn’t seem to care about an accurate name either.
If I ever do get back up that way, I will be armed with a bit more knowledge, and you never know, I might find a couple more logs down beside the road.

Yeah, ya gotta love our Casuarinas, they produce some spectacular & useful woods which I think are too-often under-appreciated. Those spectacular medullary rays are both a plus & a minus. Plus because they look interesting, but minus because they can be a bit too large on a small item, & also because they are weak points where splitting starts during drying. One of my favourite Casuarinas is A. torulosa, which apart from being a spectacular wood, is abundant and I can get all I want for free off the old family farm But it's a pest to dry in larger sizes, it has the dubious honour of having the greatest tangential to radial shrinkage of any of our common species. Leaving cut billets in the sun for a couple of days can result in this: Radial splits2.jpg

But the rays were handy for suggesting feathers in these turned & carved birds: Duck 1.jpg (Buloke) Duck 2.jpg (She-oak)

There is one outlier in the genus that I know of, & that's Belah (A.cristata). Not a hint of a ray to the naked eye: Belah 1.jpg Belah 3.jpg Belah 2.jpg

It still likes to crack when drying, though, as you can see. Are there any other Allocasuarinas that don't have visible rays, Euge? Anyone?

Cheers,

Hi Ian, I’m away so not easy to respond with pics. But there is only one that comes to mind ....related to C. cristata called Black Oak (Casuarina pauper) ... SA & WA with a small black heartwood. I have a bit somewhere

Euge

edit & addition: Ian rays in C. cristata & pauper are visible I believe under a lens, These dryland species finish “like glass” . After the Acacias I love Casuarinas/Allocasurinas ... then again Eucalypts are not far behind

I didn't get a chance to get down to my shed to look for that piece of Black Sheoak today.
But here are some pics I took a week or two ago when somebody dropped me off some bits and pieces.

A piece of well weathered Bull Oak, the rays are still easy to see.
DSC_9197.jpg

A fresher piece.
DSC_9201.jpg

The fresh piece, beside some bits of False Sandalwood.
DSC_9196.jpg

Waiting on some new bandsaw tires to turn up in the mail before I can have a better look at this stuff.

Originally Posted by Euge

Hi Ian, I’m away so not easy to respond with pics. But there is only one that comes to mind ....related to C. cristata called Black Oak (Casuarina pauper) ... SA & WA with a small black heartwood. I have a bit somewhere

Euge

Thanks Euge. It's closely related alright - mostly listed as a subspecies of A. cristata, so the relationship is very close! It has always seemed so odd to me that the wood of Belah is so different from all the others, yet the tree itself is a perfectly normal-looking casuarina. The size of medullary rays mustn't have much effect on their function, because Bull oak & Belah grow within a stone's throw of each other, & presumably they have to cope with very similar conditions...

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Euge

Hi Ian, I’m away so not easy to respond with pics. But there is only one that comes to mind ....related to C. cristata called Black Oak (Casuarina pauper) ... SA & WA with a small black heartwood. I have a bit somewhere

Euge

Thanks Euge. It's closely related alright - mostly listed as a subspecies of A. cristata, so the relationship is very close! It has always seemed so odd to me that the wood of Belah is so different from all the others, yet the tree itself is a perfectly normal-looking casuarina. The size of medullary rays mustn't have much effect on their function, because Bull oak & Belah grow within a stone's throw of each other, & presumably they have to cope with very similar conditions...

Cheers,