CASUARINA FAMILY (CASUARINACEAE*) 

 11. Casuarina, Australian beefwood, horsetail casuarina Casuarina equisetifoUa L.* 



A tiill sk^mler introduced tree witli a tliin crown, 

 characterized by: (1) wiry, droopinjj;, dark (jreen, 

 needle) ike twiji's about 1/32 i"*"!^ i'l diameter, jointed 

 and grooved, with rings of minute grayish scale 

 leaves about 1/4-% i"ch apart ; (-2) numerous small 

 male and female flowers crowded in inconspicuous 

 light brown clusters on the same tree (monoeci- 

 ous), the male flowers in narrow cylindrical ter- 

 minal clusters %-% inch long and as much as 

 1/8 inch across the stamens, and female flowers in 

 short-stalked lateral ball-like clusters less than i/g 

 inch in diameter or Yie "i^'h across the spreading 

 dark red styles; and (3) fruit a light brown 

 warty conelike ball \'2 A i^i^li i» diameter. 



A rapidly growing medium-sized evergreen 

 tree to 100 feet tall and l-iy2 feet in trunk diam- 

 eter. The bark is light gray brown, smoothish on 

 small trunks, becoming rough, furrowed and 

 shaggy, and splitting into thin stri]is and flakes 

 exposing a reddish-brown layer. Inner bark is 

 reddish and bitter or astringent. The wiry droojv 

 ing twigs !)-liS inches long are dark gi'een, becom- 

 ing paler, and the older twigs gray brown and 

 scaly. 



Leaves are less than V3., inch long, 6-8 in a 

 ring (whorled) at a joint or node. The twigs 

 remain green and function like leaves in food 

 making and are shed gradually like leaves. 



Minute male flowers, crowded in rings among 

 the grayish scales, consist of a protruding brown- 

 ish stamen less than % inch long with 2 minute 

 brown sepal scales at base. Female flowers lack 

 sepals but have a pistil about ?i6 inch long with 

 small ovary and threadlike dark red style. 



The nndtiple fruit, gray green when immature, 

 is composed of points less than Vg inch long and 

 broad, each developing from a flower. An indi- 

 vidual fruit has 2 pointed scales that s]Dlit apart 

 at maturity and release 1 winged light brown seed 

 (akene) about I/4 inch long (300,000 per pound). 

 Flowering and fruiting through the year. 



The sapwood is pinkish to light brown, the 

 heartwood dark brown. The fine-textured wood is 

 very hard, heav_y (specific gravity 0.81), and very 

 susceptible to attack by dry-wood termites. It is 

 strong, tough, difficult to saw, but cracks and S]5lits, 

 and is not durable in the ground. Rate of air- 

 seasoning is moderate, and amount of degrade is 

 considerable. Machining characteristics are as 

 follows: planing and turning ai-e fair; and shap- 

 ing, boring, mortising, sanding, and resistance to 



screw splitting are good. The wood is used in 

 the round. Uses include fenceposts and poles, 

 beams but not underground, oxcart tongues, char- 

 coal and fuel. 



Elsewhere the bark has been employed in tan- 

 ning, in medicine, and in the extraction of a red 

 or blue-black dye. In southern Florida the fruits 

 have been made into novelties and Christmas 

 decorations. 



Often propagated by cuttings for street, park, 

 ornamental, and windbi'eak plantings, it can also 

 be trimmed into hedges. It is used for reforesta- 

 tion because of its adaptability to degraded sites 

 and lapid giowth. Natural regeneration is rare 

 in Puerto Rico because ants consume nearly all 

 the seeds, but in some tropical areas the plants 

 spread rapidly. On protected sandy seacoasts, 

 where this tree is best adapted in this region, di- 

 ameter growth rates of 1 inch per year are not 

 micommon. Because some trees have been de- 

 stroyed by disease in Puerto Rico within recent 

 years, plauting for shade or ornament may not te 

 desirable. 



Planted in Puerto Rico, especially along the 

 coa-sts and less commonly in the lower mountain 

 regions. Also in Mona, St. Croix, St. Thomas, 

 and St. John. 



R.\NGE. — Xative of tropical Asia and Austra- 

 lasia but planted and naturalized in various tropi- 

 cal and subtropical regions. Southern Florida 

 including Florida Keys, Bermuda, through West 

 Indies from Bahamas and Cuba to Trinidad, and 

 from Mexico to South America. 



Other common names. — pino australiano, pino 

 de Australia, pino (Puerto Rico) ; weeping willow 

 (Virgin Islands) ; pino, pino de Australia (Span- 

 ish) ; cipres (Cuba, Mexico) ; sauce (Nicaragua) ; 

 horsetail casuarina, beefwood, horsetail beefwood, 

 horsetail-tree, Australian-pine (United States) : 

 beefwood (Bahamas) ; casuarina, whistling-pine 

 (Trinidad and Tobago) ; Christmas-tree (British 

 Guiana); pin d"Au.stralie (Haiti); filao (French 

 West Indies) ; casuarine (Dutch West Indies) : 

 cazuarina (Brazil). 



Casuarina is not related to the true pines, which 

 are not native in Puerto Rico. The common name 

 pino, of course, is descriptive of the wiry green 

 twigs, which resemble the needle leaves of pines. 

 A few related species introduced from Australia 

 are being tested experimentally in forest planta- 

 tions. 



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