CASUARINA

noun Etymology: New Latin, genus name, from Malay (pohon) kĕsuari, literally, cassowary tree; from the resemblance of its twigs to cassowary feathers Date: 1777 any of a genus ( Casuarina of the family Casuarinaceae) of dicotyledonous chiefly Australian trees which have whorls of scalelike leaves and jointed stems resembling horsetails and some of which yield a heavy hard wood