Common name: Australian Pine, Horsetail, Horsetail Casuarina, Ironwood, Suru सुरू (Marathi)

Botanical name: Casuarina equisetifolia - [ (kazh-yoo-ar-EYE-nuh) or (kazh-yoo-ar-EE-nuh) from Malay kesuari, from the resemblance of its twigs to the drooping feathers of the cassowary; (ek-wih-set-ih-FOL-ee-uh) foliage like a horse tail, Equisetum ] Family: Casuarinaceae (casuarina family) - [ (kazh-yoo-ar-EYE-nuh-see-ay) the Casuarina family ]

Origin: Malaysia, Southern Asia, Oceania and Australia

Casuarina equisetifolia L. is a common tropical seashore tree known as Common Ironwood, Beefwood, Bull-oak, or Whistling-pine and is often planted as a windbreak. The wood of this tree is used for shingles, fencing, and is said to make excellent, hot burning, firewood.

C. equisetifolia is widespread in the Hawaiian Islands where it is an introduced species, growing both at the seashore in dry, salty, calcareous soils and up in the mountains in high rainfall areas on volcanic soils. The plants are strongly suspected of having alleopathic properties, as evidenced by the near absence of understory once a mat of litter develops around the plants.

Courtesy: - Top Tropicals - Dave's Garden - ZipCode Zoo - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia