Casuarina equisetifolia L.
| Kannada Name : | Kyasurina Sarve mara |
| Common Name : | Australian pine tree |
| Family Name : | Casuarinaceae |
| Scientific Name : | Casuarina equisetifolia |
| Species Type : | Indigenous |
| Phenology : | Evergreen |
| Conservation Status : | Least concern |
| Flowering Period : | April - June |
| Fruiting Period : | September- December |
| Origin : | Southeast Asia, Australia |
Uses
Root extracts are used for the treatment of dysentery, diarrhoea and stomach-ache. A decoction of the twigs is used for treating swelling. The fresh bark is an excellent astringent. It is used in the treatment of chronic diarrhoea and dysentery. A decoction of the inner bark, combined with the inner bark of Terminalia catappa, is taken as a treatment for asthma and shortness of breath
Description
Evergreen tree which grows upto 35m, monoecious, often pyramidal; bark dark grey or brownish. Youngest persistent stems with internodes with whorls of 6–8 scale leaves, 2–3 mm, straw coloured, narrowly triangular, pubescent, margin with numerous white or pale cilia. Persistent branches give rise to nuumerous deciduous branches that are green, 7-8 parallel ribs; scale leaves in whorls of 6-8, pale green or straw coloured, small, adpressed, united at base, glabrous, margin with cilia. Male inflorescenes abundant on deciduous branches, rare on persistent branches. Female inflorescnces axillary and borne on apices of younger persitent branches. Infructescence short, cylindricalor sub-globose with flattened apex. Fruit a samara, woody, pale brown, containing a single seed.
