CASUARINA

[ca.su.a.ri.na] n [NL, genus name, fr. Malay (pohon) kesuari, lit., cassowary tree; fr. the resemblance of its twigs to cassowary feathers] (1806): 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