General Information

COMMON NAMES: Pacific Ironwood, Beach She-oak, Coastal She-Oak, Australian Beefwood, Beechwood, Horse-tail Casuarina, Southsea Ironwood; German Kasuarine TRADITIONAL NAMES: Toa (RR MG AT MK MT AK PL TS TW MH RK PK NS); Other Polynesian - Toa (SAM), ‘Aito (TAH) GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE se.Asia - Malesia - ne.Australia - w.Pacific - ? COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Polynesian, Naturalised; Land, mountains (++++) SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Medicine, Material (Wood); Weed - minor

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Present    Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
++++	++++	++++	++++	++++	++++	P		++LIR

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
++IR	P	+	+	+	-

Casuarina equisetifolia Linnaeus
TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); HAMAMELIDAE; Casuarinales; CASUARINACEAE

SIGNIFICANCE NOTES -
POSITIVE SIGNIFICANCE: Medicine, Material (Wood). Comments: MATERIAL: Timber extremely hard, dense, lasts well and is very strong. Splits easily and is therefore not good for carpentry. Some older heartwood approaches ebony in being dark, firm and dense. MEDICINE: juice of inner bark used a mouthwash (RR, Joan Rolls, 6/2000, GM).
NEGATIVE SIGNIFICANCE: Weed - minor

GENERAL NOTE: Name Casuarina is derived from Malay Kasuari, the name for the Cassowary bird, because the drooping foliage resembles the bird's drooping feathers. This species is one of the few Casuarina that can be propogated from cuttings. This species is abundant in present day pollen samples but absent from pre-Polynesian settlement samples, indicating that it was not native, but was introduced by the Polynesians [Ellison 1994 and Atiu also].

Vouchers:
Pukapuka: fieldspecimen, 2/2004, G.McCormack with ID as Casuarina equisetifolia.

References:
p.528 Wagner et al.- Flowering Plants of Hawaii
p.288 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.232 Hortus 3rd
p.218 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.300 Tropica
p.2/253 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.297 I Cheeseman - Flora of Rarotonga
p.38 Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga
p.405d Whistler - Ethnobotany of the Cook Islands
p.93 McCormack/Kunzle - Rarotonga's Mountain Tracks and Plants

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM04b

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