BEEFWOOD TREE
Family
- Casuarinaceae
Scientific
name - Casuarina equisetifolia
COMMON NAMES:
1) In
English She-oak, Australian oak, Beefwood.
2) Vilayati
saru in Hindi.
3) In
Marathi Jungli saru.
4) In
Tamil Chouk.
5) In Bengali Jhau.
GROWING AREAS:
1) This
could be called an Australian tree, but it also grows wild in the south-east of
India through to Australia.
2) Now
has been planted all along the coasts of India.
3) It
loves plenty of sunlight and a sandy soil.
4) Grows
well on beaches and in exposed places.
5) However,
it also thrives inland (and large numbers often grow together).
GENERAL INFORMATION:
1) It
is a tall, fast growing, evergreen tree.
2) It
has short life and has long untidy branches.
3) The
bark is dark grey-brown, uneven, and peels off in patches.
4) What
look like the grey-green, needle-shaped leaves that fit one into another.
5) In
the illustration are in fact the branchlets.
6) As these age they grow brown in colour and fall in heaps under the tree.
7) The name Casuarina is believed to come from a Latin word meaning cassowary (a bird from New Guinea) whose feathers look like the spiky twigs of the tree.
8) It
is called beefwood in Australia because under the bark the wood is the same
bright red colour as raw beef.
FLOWERS OF THE BEEFWOOD TREE:
1) On
this tree there are often male and female flowers, the main seasons being
February and then September-October.
2) Some
trees bear both male and female flowers whilst others either male or female
flowers only.
3) The
female flowers start as buds covered with curly dark red fur.
4) This
fur falls as the buds develop into small round wood-like cones.
5) The
male flower grows at the end of the needle-shaped branchlets in a fluffy
yellowish spike.
FRUIT OF THE BEEFWOOD TREE:
1) A
wood-like cone.
2) It
is green at first and then turns brown.
USES OF THE BEEFWOOD TREE:
1) In
Europe this tree is grown in hot houses and used for decoration.
2) In
tropical countries it is very useful for preventing soil erosion.
3) In
some places the trees are trimmed and made into hardy hedges.
4) This
is done by cutting the stems and branches every time they grow too tall and in
this way they spread and form a hedge.
5) The
wood is cheap and is often used for flooring planks instead of the more
expensive teak.
6) It
also makes good firewood.
7) A
dye from the bark is used to colour fishermen’s nets.
