THE AUSTRALIAN BEEF'WOOD. 



175 



the most remarkable is C.equisetifolia, so named as though to a fixed pattern. The group is 

 from the resemblance of its floating, leafless classed near the Walnut or Hickory tribes, but 

 cords of verdure to the plumes of the Horsetail, their real place is as uncertain as their features 

 common in English ditches. These wisp-like | are distinct. 



trails of greyish green are jointed in just the In British gardens they are sometimes seen 

 same way and float in ceaseless response to every | in the greenhouse, for their quaintness and 

 tremor of the atmosphere. 

 Sometimesthe effect of these 

 trees is described as funereal 

 and depressing,but this must 

 befromsome morbid trait in 

 the individual, for the sha- 

 dow cast by quite a large 

 tree is only veiled sunlight 

 — a curtain of quivering 

 sunbeams — and the gentle 

 murmur of the floating tas- 

 sels so magnifies each passing 

 breath, that their influence is 

 rather soothing and refresh- 

 ing, suggesting more of a 

 breeze than the reality, with 

 just enough of shade to avoid 

 risk in a climate where the 

 sun may scorch and the wind 

 chill at the same moment. 



Their economic value is 

 great, as they do well in 

 poor, brackish, and even al- 

 kaline soils, and are used to 

 secure shifting sands upon 

 the sea-shore. Though of 

 quick growth their wood 

 is hard, heavy, and lasting, 

 deep red in colour (from 

 whence the name Beef- 

 wood) , good as fuel, and use- 

 ful in many industries. To 

 the botanist they represent 

 a survival of what seems at 

 some remote period to have 

 been a prevailing type of 

 plant growth. The sexes are 

 apartinthe Casuarinas, with 

 flowers appearingduring au- 

 tumn as small and insigni- 

 ficant tassels, though from 

 their number the male tree seems tinged with grace, so different from other trees. Goodspe- 

 bronze, and the female with red, as the wind , cimens may be quickly grown from seeds or 

 tosses their spray. Upon seed-bearing trees the j cuttings of half-ripened shoots,and where there 

 flowers are followed by oblong or rounded cones j is head-room and spacesufficient,theirbeauti- 

 of various sizes, often.quaintly marked and cut | ful weeping effect is unequalled. 



BEEF-WOOD TREE (CASUARINA EQUISETI FOLIA). 



