Casuarina equisetifolia

Casuarina is the word taken from Cassowary, a bird, refers to the supposed resemblance of the twigs of the species to the plumage of bird), equisetifolia (“equinus”= horse, + “folium” = leaf, refers to the drooping twigs, which are suggestive of coarse horse hair)
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Horse-tail tree, Whistling Pine, Casuarina, Common Ironwood, Beefwood, Bull-oak • Hindi: Junglisaru • Marathi: Sura • Bengali: Belati-Jhau • Kannada: Kyasurina • Malayalam: Sampirani • Telugu: Saruguda • Urdu: Jahbuko • Konkani: Phiramgi saro • Tamil: Savukku;

The plant is planted as wind breaker…; It is mostly grown for poles and firewood.
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efloraofindia:”For Id 22082011MR1’’ tall tree with spiky seeds at Pune:
kindly identify the tree with following specifications. I could not photograph it well as it is a very tall tree amongst other trees. It has thin leaves in bunches with whitish glassy shiny tips. they look like green fibre glass whorls. The lowest branch had tiny red flowers all along. The tree was full of round small berry like fruits. The spiny seeds (i think) had fallen down which I have photographed

Date/Time-  August 2011
Location- Place, Altitude, GPS- Pune Maharashtra
Habitat- Garden/ Urban/ Wild/ Type- Garden
Plant Habit- Tree/ Shrub/ Climber/ Herb-   tree
Height/Length- very tall
Leaves Type/ Shape/ Size-  green thin strips in bunches with shiny tips
Flowers Size/ Colour/ Calyx/ Bracts-  small red flowers all along the branch
Fruits

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This looks like a ‘She Oak’ or Casuarina.

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Casuarina equisetifolia
Not indian but found till Burma.
I think it has been planted in India especially on the beeches for sand reclaimation.

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Am from Goa. Was told this and have no reason to believe it is not true…
In the good old days Casuarina trees were planted on beaches to indicate that it was dangerous to swim there. The reason – the women being educated could read the notices to this effect put up on those beaches but not so with the men folk.
Hence the Casuarina trees and they can still be seen on Calangute, Miramar and a few other such dangerous beaches.

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I have seen these trees on almost all beeches of India including Goa. The simple reason being this grows well on beeches as it has its own nitrogen fixing fungus in the roots. I cant imagine beeches of Goa to be dangerous (may be at some particular sites they are dangerous) otherwise you can walk kms in water as the slope is very gentle, in comparison to Beeches of Chennai where U cant even go 5m in water as the slope is very steep.

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Also found in Haryana Wildly particularly wastelands. Quite common here and also planted by Forest deptt

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For me the fruits look somewhat different from the C.equisitifolia I have seen in Chennai and other places.   Need to check the foliage and other characters for confirmation.  Casuarina sps are native to Australia.

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Casurina for sure. Have a handful of it at my place. Very hard tree, cultivated these days for use as scaffolding in the construction industry.  The timber is so hard and so full of knots that it is impossible to be used in furniture. An enthusiastic carpenter found to his woe that not possible to be used in furniture after breaking a
handful of chisels.

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Casuarina equisitifolia…..
Casuarina is the word taken from Cassowary, a bird, refers to the supposed resemblance of the twigs of the species to the plumage of bird), equisetifolia (“equinus”= horse, + “folium” = leaf, refers to the drooping twigs, which are suggestive of coarse horse hair)

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Its planted along river banks and we have some along Dhakuria lakes in Kolkata… not allowed to photograph around the lake itself in Kolkata… it was allowed when we were Calcutta   !!!
Soil erosion prevention is ostensibly the reason…  but ..I remember a conference many years ago in Calcutta that too many causarinas (just like a concentration of Gando Bawal (Prosopsis julifora) in Gujarat and Aksahmoni tree, a eucalyptus in parts of West Bengal… draw up a lot of water from the water table, which when very low is far beyond the reach of native plants and trees… thus native flora suffers ….  there was some small movement affot to prevent further plantings… but I  do not know what happened to the group that started it…
DOES ANY one here have any Information about that?

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Casuarina equisetifolia  the plant is planted as wind breaker…

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I am no expert, however, I have not seen any adverse results in my farm even after over 50 years of growing Casurina. Coffee and other plants are thriving in its proximity. I am not sure that erosion can be controlled though, by planting Casurina. Eucalyptus however I have heard,  inhibits growth of other plants in its vicinity. Again, I have not seen any evidence of it at my farm. In fact the weeds grow luxuriously at its feet. The logical reason behind growing Casurina on the beaches may be because it leaves very little leaf litter, easier to keep it clean. This though is my conclusion, I am not aware of the reasons the authorities have opted for it on the beaches. I am afraid, I have not answered your question.

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It is mostly grown for poles and firewood. A related species Casuarina junghuhniana, which is fast growing is being promoted by Tamil Nadu Forest Department in recent times.
For deriving the meaning of the specific name ‘equisetifolia’ should have been split as Equis-horse, seti-hair, and folia-leaves. The leaves actually superficially resemble ‘Equisetum’, an ancient group of plants called horsetails.

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Gymnosperms fortnight :: Tree for ID-3 from Sagar upwan- Mumbai. :: PKA11:: : Attachments (2). 3 posts by 3 authors.
Came across this tree at “Sagar-Upwan” Mumbai. 

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Casuarina sps

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Yes Casuarina, not a Gymnosperm.

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Shibpur Bot. : looks like Casuarina equisetifolia L. : 3 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (2).
This is also from Shibpur Botanic.

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I agree with you …

Thank you very much Sir. I thought if their can be any lookalike!

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ANSEPT14 Please identify this Gymnosperm : 6 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (1).

Thadiyandamol, Coorg
August 2014

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Cropped photo of the same-Attachments (1)

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Growing on a Casuarina Tree : Mahabaleshwar : 12AUG15 : AK-24 : 24/24 : 5 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (4)
Seen growing on a Casuarina tree in Mahabaleshwar.

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Thanks for your feedback and explaining so well as to what could have lead to this phenomena.

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You are most welcome. Sending a few photographs to showcase the slow death of one of my Pongam trees.
Attachments (7)

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TSP-MAY2016-43-371:Images of Casuarina equisetifolia (Casuarinaceae) : 3 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (7)

It is my pleasure to present few images of Casuarina equisetifolia  (Casuarinaceae)

Ref: https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/species/a–-l/c/casuarinaceae/casuarina-equisetifolia/casuarina-equisetifolia

Ref: http://florakarnataka.ces.iisc.ernet.in/hjcb2/herbsheet.php?id=1059&cat=1

Ref: http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Whistling%20Pine.html

Habit: Tree

Habitat: Cultivated

Sighting: Chikmagalur, Karnataka, about 1200 msl

Date: 20-08-2014, 06-10-2014 and 07-03-2015

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Beautiful complete set with nice details of each part.

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Casuarina equisetifolia L. : 3 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (3)

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Yes. Nice images.

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Casuarina equisetifolia ? L. :: Suruchi beach, Vasai :: Feb 23, 2023 · JUN23 DV455: 3 images.

Please ignore the ? in the subject line: Casuarina equisetifolia ? L. :: Suruchi beach, Vasai :: Feb 23, 2023 · JUN23 DV455

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Casuarina equisetifolia L. :: Suruchi beach, Vasai :: Feb 23, 2023 · JUN23 DV464: 11 images.

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Casuarinaceae: Casuarina equisetifolia L.: 2 high res. images.
synonym: Casuarina equisetifolia J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
location/date: Puerto Rico, USA, March 1994

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