Australian-Pine

Casuarina equisetifolia

caz-you-RINE-ah ek-qua-seat-ah-FOAL-ee-ah

Casuarinaceae

Native to: Old World

Florida abundance and distribution: Mostly along canals and shores.  Chiefly in the Peninsula (and a little on the Gulf Coast in the Panhandle) and mostly coastal, especially northward.  Historically used to hold the soil and to prevent erosion, and an easily cultivated shade tree on beaches and in challenging sites.    Highly invasive nuisance exotic able to take over vast spaces crowding out other vegetation, and actively removed to restore many native areas and habitats.

Recognition:  Evergreen tree resembling a conifer, 20-120’ tall with “pine-needle-like” branchlets. Trees monoecious, the male flowers tiny,  in simple spikes ¼-1.5” long; female flowers tiny,  in tight clusters on short peduncles, the female inflorescence maturing into a woody “cone” resembling a conifer cone.

Easily confused species:  Australian-Pine is not a pine, it is a flowering plant.    Upon close examination, the Australian-Pine “needles” can be discerned as thin branchlets bearing whorls of  6-8 tiny scalelike leaves forming sheaths around the nodes.  There are three species of Casuarina in Florida.

Contributed by: Ginelle Monico