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Casuarina (said to be derived from Casuarius, the Cassowary, from resemblance of the branches to the feathers). Casuarinaceae. Beefwood. She-oak. Odd slender-branched leafless trees and shrubs grown in warm regions and rarely seen under glass. They are thin- topped trees of striking appearance.
Casuarinas are usually classified near the walnut and hickory tribes, although very unlike them—or other known plants—in botanical characters. They are jointed and leafless plants, somewhat suggesting equisetums in gross appearance. Flowers are unisexual; staminate in cylindrical terminal spikes, each fl. consisting of a stamen inclosed in 4 scales, 2 of the scales being attached to the filament; pistillate fls. in dense heads borne in the axils, and ripening into globular or oblong cones, composed of 1-ovuled ovaries subtended by bracts: fr. a winged nutlet.—About 25 species in Austral., New Caledonia and E. Indies. The species fall into 2 groups, those having cylindrical and verticillate branches, and those having 4-angled and only imperfectly verticillate branches. The species bear small toothed sheaths at the joints.
Beefwood is planted in the extreme South for its very odd habit, and also to hold sands of the seacoast. The wood burns quickly, and is very hard and durable. The redness of the wood has given the popular name, beef-wood.—The species are remarkable for rapid growth. They grow well in brackish and alkaline soils. Propagated by seeds and by cuttings of partly ripened wood.
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