Casuarina species

Non-Native in Florida

Online image request form

Casuarina equisetifolia

Appearance: Evergreen tree to 46 m (150 ft) tall, single-trunked; reddish brown to gray bark, rough, brittle, peeling.

Leaves: Tiny scales, whorled around long, grayish-green branchlets (resemble pine needles), scales 1-3 mm (0.11 in) long, 6-8 per whorl.

Flowers: Unisexual, inconspicuous, female contained in cylindrical to almost round cone-like clusters, to 2 cm (<1 in) long; male in small terminal spikes, 1.3 cm (0.5 in) wide.

Fruit: Tiny, 1-seeded, winged nutlet contained in the cone.

Ecological threat: Invasive exotics that are altering native plant communities by displacing native species, changing community structures or ecological functions, or hybridizing with natives. FLEPPC Category I


*Additional Casuarina species are listed on FLEPPC’s Category II list of invasive exotics: C. glauca and C. cunninghamiana.

Distribution: NW, NE, C, SW, SE

Text from Invasive and Non-Native Plants You Should Know, Recognition Cards, by A. Richard and V. Ramey, 2007. UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, Publ. No. SP 431.

Download the Recognition Card (PDF 931 KB).

 

For general information about Casuarina, download this UF/IFAS-EDIS publication, Australian pine, Casuarina, by E.F. Gilman and D.G. Watson.

For more information and pictures about Casuarina equisetifolia, view the Langeland/Burks book, Identification & Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas.

For more information and pictures about Casuarina glauca, view the Langeland/Burks book, Identification & Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas.

The UF/IFAS Assessment lists plants according to their invasive status in Florida.

View the herbarium specimen images of the University of Florida Herbarium Digital Imaging Projects.