1212 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



N. 0. CASURINE^E. 



1197. Casuarina equisetifolia, Forst., H.F.B.I., 

 v. 598. 



Syn. : — C. muricata, Roxb. 623. 



Vern. :— Jangli saro, janglijhaii, Vilayati saro (H.) ; Jan (B.); 

 Jurijur, muj-jun (Sind) ; Sarpubala, sarova, suru (Mar.) ; Chouk, 

 sbavuku-maram, shavuku-pattay (Tarn.) ; Serva, chavuku-rnanu, 

 chavuku-patta (Tel.) ; Kasrike (Mysore) ; Sura (Kan.) ; Am, 

 chavaka-maram (Mai.). 



Habitat : --On the east side of the Bay of Bengal from 

 Chittagong southwards, cultivated elsewhere in India. Intro- 

 duced into the plains as a roadside tree, and from its resemblance 

 to the Tamarix received the vernacular names of ttiis plant. 



The tree is very useful in the reclamation of land near the 

 sea, and is much valued in the Madras and Bombay Presidencies 

 for planting on sand-dunes along the coasts of Coromandel and 

 N. Kanara. 



A large, evergreen tree, tall, straight-stemmed. Bark brown, 

 rough, fibrous, peeling off in vertical strips. Wood reddish- 

 brown, very hard, cracks and splits. The ends of branches 

 thickly set with numerous, long, slender branchlets, which are 

 mostly deciduous and fulfil the function of leaves. Branchlets 

 jointed, the internodes i-Jin. long, 6-8-ribbed, with fine hairs 

 at the bottom of the furrows between the ribs and stomata in 

 the furrows only. The ribs of each joint terminate upwards in 

 the teeth of a membranous sheath, alternating with the ribs 

 of the next joint above. Opposite these teeth are axillary 

 vegetative buds, of which, as a rule, only one or few grow out 

 into branchlets. These axillary buds mostly develope at the ends 

 of branchlets where the joints have not yet lengthened out. Here 

 the teeth of the annular sheaths are much longer (up to £in.) 

 than on the lower and older joints, and they are densely clothed 

 with fine hairs. Flowers uni-sexual. Males monandrous, axillary, 

 under the teeth of the annular sheaths of terminal, short jointed, 

 cylindric spikes lin., long. Perianth of 2 large scales enclosing 

 the anthers and 2 smaller at right angles to the first, anthers 



