Allocasuarina lehmanniana, commonly known as dune sheoak, is a shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Casuarinaceae

Casuarinaceae

Casuarinaceae is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants placed in the order Fagales, consisting of 3 or 4 genera and approximately 70 species of trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics , Australia, and the Pacific Islands...

. Endemic to Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, it is widespread along on the coast from the Murchison River

Murchison River (Western Australia)

The Murchison River is the second longest river in Western Australia. It flows for about from the southern edge of the Robinson Ranges to the Indian Ocean at Kalbarri. It has a mean annual flow of about 200 million cubic metres.-Course:...

 south to Israelite Bay

Israelite Bay, Western Australia

Israelite Bay is a bay and locality at Location on the south coast of Western Australia - frequently mentioned in Bureau of Meteorology weather reports as a geographical marker - it does not have a climate record....

.

Dune sheoak grows as an upright shrub from three to five metres tall (10–16 ft). As with other Allocasuarina

Allocasuarina

Allocasuarina is a genus of trees in the flowering plant family Casuarinaceae. They are endemic to Australia, occurring primarily in the south. Like the closely related genus Casuarina, they are commonly called sheoaks or she-oaks, they are notable for their long, segmented branchlets that...

species, its foliage consists of slender green branchlets informally referred to as "needles" but more correctly termed cladodes. The cladodes are segmented, and the true leaves are tiny teeth encircling each joint. Most specimens bear only male or female flowers, but some specimens will bear both. Male trees have small brown flower spikes at the end of branchlets. Female trees bear small flowers on short branchlets of their own. Fertilised flowers develop egg-shaped cones from 1½ to 3 centimetres (0.6–1.2 in) in diameter.

Dune Sheoak was first collected in 1840 by Johann Priess. The specific name lehmanniana honours the botanist Johann Lehmann.

There are two subspecies: Allocasuarina lehmanniana subsp. ecarinata and Allocasuarina lehmanniana subsp. lehmanniana.