Belah

Casuarina pauper is a dioecious tree similar to C. cristata, that typically grows to a height of 5–15 m (16–49 ft), has a DBH of up to 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in), and sometimes produces root suckers. The branchlets are more or less erect or spreading, up to 250 mm (9.8 in) long, the leaves reduced to scale-like teeth 0.8–0.9 mm (0.031–0.035 in) long, arranged in whorls of 9 to 13 around the branchlets. The sections of branchlet between the leaf whorls (the "articles") are waxy, 8–17 mm (0.31–0.67 in) long and 1.0–1.8 mm (0.039–0.071 in) wide. The flowers on male trees are arranged in spikes 10–30 mm (0.39–1.18 in) long, the anthers 0.8–1.1 mm (0.031–0.043 in) long. The female cones are covered with rusty hairs, on a peduncle 1–14 mm (0.039–0.551 in) long. The mature cones are usually 10–22 mm (0.39–0.87 in) long and 11–15 mm (0.43–0.59 in) in diameter, the samaras 5.5–7.0 mm (0.22–0.28 in) long. This species is a poorer, stunted form of C. cristata, and the two species often intergrade where their ranges overlap.

Black oak grows in red-brown soils on open woodland, sometimes with Callitris gracilis, and is widespread across southern Australia, including in the far south-west of Queensland, western New South Wales, north-western Victoria, South Australia, and inland Western Australia. This species is generally found growing in groves ranging in area from less than 1 to 10 ha (2.5 to 24.7 acres) at altitudes from 400–500 m (1,300–1,600 ft), and where the temperature ranges between 3 and 36 °C (37 and 97 °F).

Casuarina pauper produces abundant viable seed, with regeneration success likely to be inhibited during periods of insufficient soil moisture. When present at low densities, plants tends to reproduce sexually, while established groves extend mostly from the fringes through root suckers, increasing the local area occupied by individual plants.

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