Collected She-oak. Aftercare? When to trunk chop? ID?

[sheepdawg]

Hey everyone, a friend was clearing some space on his property and I found this guy whilst digging through his rubbish pile. I have no idea when these guys are supposed to be collected, so I'm hoping it pulls through because I really like its base.

I'm planning on just potting it up and leaving it through autumn and winter, then chopping it back in spring/summer (if its recovered enough). Would this be okay?

I'm going to leave it in full-shade for now, how long before I can move it into full-sun?

Can any ID the species?

Any other tips for this species?

Thanks

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[KIRKY]

I think it may be Casuarina equisetifolia. I would pot it up and keep it in full sun and keep the water/seasol up to it. Then deal with it Spring.
Cheers
Kirky

[shibui]

Many casuarinas and Allocasuarinas look very similar, especially as young plants.
One of the keys to ID is to look at the leaves. Leaves in this family are reduced to tiny scales around the stem joints. The green 'needles' that you can see are really the stems of the plant and actually do the photosynthesis for the trees.
To actually look at the leaves you'll need a magnifying glass. They really are that small. you need to count how many are at each joint.
Here's the best picture I can find at short notice.

Cas leaf.PNG

As for care, these seem to be pretty hardy so just pot it up and leave to recover till next summer. When it starts to grow you can cut back as hard as you like. Most species seem to bud easily from bare wood.

[Jiro]

I've no experience in Casuarina bonsai but I do have experience in identifying plant species. Shibui is 100% correct in regards to identifying the leaf structure although often with all plants the flower or 'fruit' can be the best tool in identification.

If possible return to the site you collected the plant and pick up some of the seed pods from the mature parent trees in the area, in conjunction with your leaf structure you should be able to identify the species using a decent plant identification chart.

http://www.arapahocitrus.com/files/Australian_Pines.pdf

*edit for a bit of bad grammar