N. 0. CASURINEÆ.
1197. Casuarina equisetifolia, Forst., H.F.B.I., v. 598.
Syn. : — C. muricata, Roxb. 623.
Vern. :— Jangli saro, janglijháú, Viláyati saro (H.) ; Ján (B.); Jurijur, muj-jun (Sind) ; Sarpúbala, sarova, suru (Mar.) ; Chouk, shavuku-maram, shavuku-pattay (Tam.) ; Serva, chavuku-mánu, chavuku-patta (Tel.) ; Kásrike (Mysore) ; Sura (Kan.) ; Aru, chavaka-maram (Mal.).
Habitat : --On the east side of the Bay of Bengal from Chittagong southwards, cultivated elsewhere in India. Introduced into the plains as a roadside tree, and from its resemblance to the Tamarix received the vernacular names of this plant.
The tree is very useful in the reclamation of land near the sea, and is much valued in the Madras and Bombay Presidencies for planting on sand-dunes along the coasts of Coromandel and N. Kanara.
A large, evergreen tree, tall, straight-stemmed. Bark brown, rough, fibrous, peeling off in vertical strips. Wood reddish-brown, very hard, cracks and splits. The ends of branches thickly set with numerous, long, slender branchlets, which are mostly deciduous and fulfil the function of leaves. Branchlets jointed, the internodes 1/6-¼in. long, 6-8-ribbed, with fine hairs at the bottom of the furrows between the ribs and stomata in the furrows only. The ribs of each joint terminate upwards in the teeth of a membranous sheath, alternating with the ribs of the next joint above. Opposite these teeth are axillary vegetative buds, of which, as a rule, only one or few grow out into branchlets. These axillary buds mostly develope at the ends of branchlets where the joints have not yet lengthened out. Here the teeth of the annular sheaths are much longer (up to ¼in.) than on the lower and older joints, and they are densely clothed with fine hairs. Flowers uni-sexual. Males monandrous, axillary, under the teeth of the annular sheaths of terminal, short jointed, cylindric spikes lin., long. Perianth of 2 large scales enclosing the anthers and 2 smaller at right angles to the first, anthers
