Casuarina is a genus of around 20 species of tree from Australia, Asia and Africa. Appearing at first glance similar to a pine, they can be distinguished by their segmented "needles" which are actually small, green twigs. Despite their appearance, they are flowering plants and are even distantly related to oaks, as their name might suggest.
She-oaks are fairly difficult to identify, and can even be a challenge to distinguish from the related genus, Allocasuarina. I have only seen a single species in our area, C. cunninghamiana. This species is commonly misidentified as C. equisetifolia, which I have not seen locally but is commonly planted in coastal parts of the tropics worldwide.
These trees are heat and drought tolerant, and seem to grow very well in our area. Some species have become invasive in other areas, but while I have seen a few stray seedlings, this does not seem to be a major problem here. These trees don't seem to be very commonly planted in recent years, perhaps because of their lackluster appearance. They do have one attractive feature--tiny magenta flowers which can be easy to miss but are very beautiful when examined up close.
She-oaks are fairly difficult to identify, and can even be a challenge to distinguish from the related genus, Allocasuarina. I have only seen a single species in our area, C. cunninghamiana. This species is commonly misidentified as C. equisetifolia, which I have not seen locally but is commonly planted in coastal parts of the tropics worldwide.
These trees are heat and drought tolerant, and seem to grow very well in our area. Some species have become invasive in other areas, but while I have seen a few stray seedlings, this does not seem to be a major problem here. These trees don't seem to be very commonly planted in recent years, perhaps because of their lackluster appearance. They do have one attractive feature--tiny magenta flowers which can be easy to miss but are very beautiful when examined up close.