CASUARINAS. 



The ordtr of plants known as Casuarina 1 , comprises but one 

 genus of very limited area viz. Casuarina. There are about 50 

 species in the genus, of which most are peculiar to Australia with a 

 number occurring in New Caledonia, and a few in the Malay 

 Islands. 



The Casuarinas known here by the Malay name of Ru, or 

 Javanese Eru, are trees of some size, with thin cylindric jointed 

 branches, and no leaves unless certain little teeth at each joint of the 

 branchlets represent these organs. The male flowers are borne 

 m slender rusty brown spikes on the branchlets and the females in 

 small cones. The fruit is a small woody cone containing flat one 

 winged seeds, which are drifted away by the wind when the cone 

 splits. In collecting seed for growing it is necessary to gather the 

 cones when ripe but before they split or the seeds are blown away 

 by the wind. The cones are laid out in a dry place to split on stiff 

 Paper and when split the seeds can be shaken out and collected. 

 Only one species is indigenous to the Malay Peninsula. Casua- 

 equisct. 1 folia. This tree invariably occurs in a single line 

 along the sea coast, above high water mark in sandy beaches. So 

 regular is it in this that it often appears to have been planted in line. 

 At Santubong in Sarawak, I have seen a line of these trees in a 

 sandy spot some distance from the sea which has evidently receded 

 , om the trees, and left them some way inland. Except w here 

 Planted one never sees these trees inland or away from the sea. 

 Yet the >' g rovv very well away from the sea especially in dry exposed 

 Places and are frequently planted as roadside or shelter belt trees. 



ere are some remarkably fine specimens by the sea at Malacca 

 evidently of considerable age. 



x These plants are readily grown from seed, and grow very fast. 

 : ole * on the cultivation of Casuarina eq inset i folia, have already 

 **n published in the Bulletin No. IV, 1 1, 57. 



wellT ' f any WMes seem able to grow on the bark, and it is 

 t , noWn ^at orchid planted on them never do well or live long. 



. ! '! e species of Loranthus, occurs as a parasite, however, on the 



m trees on the Pahang Coast (L Casuarina-). 

 Bullet! if SUarina is cultivated for ornament and for fire wood (see 

 the erJJ c 292 ' and also supplies a good and durable timber. At 

 trees if°K t - he year its branches are often in request for Christmas 

 yjbstitm f' ng the ° n[ y common P lant which forms a satisfactory 

 boughs h S P ruce hr used at home for this P ur P ose - The 



thir > striD° W f eVer ' are so thin that they re( l uire to be supported by 

 c ps 01 ba mboo tied beneath them. 



'" ■'"•>■ Mi<|- of which a ph-.to^raph is givm, is a re mark - 



s young sta 



presented and i 



ive of Sumatra and Borneo, where it grows 

 he sea, usually in hilly places. When young 

 shaped outline, the lower branches lying on 



