Casuarina Equisetifolia

Casuarina equisetifolia, commonly known as Australian Pine, Ironwood, or Horsetail Tree, is a tall and fast-growing evergreen tree native to Australia and Southeast Asia. It belongs to the family Casuarinaceae and is widely planted in various tropical and subtropical regions around the world. Here's a description of the Casuarina equisetifolia plant:

1. Appearance: Casuarina equisetifolia is a large tree that can reach heights of 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 meters) or even taller under ideal conditions. It has a slender and graceful appearance with a cone-shaped crown. The branches are pendulous and spread horizontally, giving the tree a unique and attractive silhouette.

2. Foliage: The tree's foliage is its most distinctive feature. Instead of typical broad leaves, Casuarina equisetifolia has slender, green, jointed branchlets that resemble the appearance of horsetails or pine needles. These branchlets are not true leaves but modified stems called cladodes. The actual leaves are reduced to tiny scales, almost invisible to the naked eye, located at the joints of the branchlets.

3. Bark: The bark of the Australian Pine is grayish-brown and becomes rough and fissured with age.

4. Flowers: The tree produces small, inconspicuous flowers that are grouped into compact, cylindrical structures called "cones." These cones are usually reddish-brown in color and are located at the branch tips.