‖ casuarina Bot.
(ˌkæsjuːəˈraɪnə)
[f. mod.L. casuarius cassowary, from fancied resemblance of the branches to the feathers of the bird.]
A genus of curious trees, with jointed leafless branches, having the appearance of gigantic horse-tails (Equiseta), natives of Australia and the Indian Archipelago. The Australian species is known as Beef-wood, and ‘Oak’.
| 1806 Naval Chron. XV. 460 Clubs made of the wood of the casuarina. 1866 Treas. Bot. 237 The Fiji Islanders eat human flesh with forks made of the hard wood of a casuarina. 1883 Sunday Mag. Sept. 547/1 Splendid date-palms..lofty Australian acacias, casuarinas, and eucalypti. |