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Hard, but easy to crack!

Casuarina is ideal as a border plant in gardens

Casuarina equisetifolia (Family: Casuarinaceae) is known as Sura in Hindi, Kattadi in Tamil, Chavokku in Malayalam and Sarugudu in Telugu.

It is a large evergreen conifer-like tree from Australia and the Pacific islands. Its twigs are jointed, 6-8 ribbed, bearing tiny scale-like leaves set in whorls at the nodes. The tree grows up to 25 metres and the bark peels off in longitudinal strips. The flowers are unisexual, the male growing in long spikes and the female arranged in compact clusters about 1 cm across. The cylindrical ovoid flower cones are woody, 2 cm across and contain a number of winged seeds. The egg-shaped fruits have 12 rows of seeds, five cm long. The tree, commonly grown along coasts, flowers twice a year. The fruit ripens in June-December and the propagation is by seed. Casuarina does best in well-drained soil and requires plenty of sunlight. The wood is hard, cracks and splits easily, and is one of the best fuel woods in the world. It is sometimes used for poles and rafters. It can fix atmospheric nitrogen through bacteria in its roots. When clipped, it makes a good, dense hedge. The timber is used for beams and the bark, in tanning.

The trees, while in fruit, produce a whistling sound in strong breeze from which the common name `whistling pine' is derived.

Casuarina doubles as fencing for properties as it is tall, flood-tolerant and trouble-free. It thrives best in coastal regions, but commonly grown on roadsides and in gardens all over the plains.

Chitra Radhakrishnan

CHITRA RADHAKRISHNAN

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