Casuarina equisetifolia L

കാറ്റാടി മരം

Family : Casuarinaceae

Synonym : Casuarina litorea L.

Common Names : Aru, Chavukku, Chavakkamaram, Choola, Kattadi, Sampirani, Australian pine, Beefwood tree, Beach she-oak, Casuarina tree, Coast she-oak, Horsetail tree, Mile tree, South Sea ironweed

Flowering Period : July – September

Distribution : Malay Islands, Australia, Pacific

Habitat : Cultivated

Uses : Extensively cultivated for fuel, erosion control, and as a windbreak, hedge plant, timber yielding, bonsai material

Key Characters :

Dioecious trees, to 30 m high, bark brown, rough, peeling off in vertical strips. Leaves scaly alternating with the ribs of the upper node. Flowers in spikes; male flowers: in terminal spikes, pendulous, brown; tepals 2, lanceolate; stamen 1; anther oblong; female flowers: in axillary spikes, solitary or in pairs, condensed into an ovoid cone, shortly stalked; tepals absent; ovary superior. Fruit a carpophores, ovoid; nutlets compressed; seeds winged.