casuarina

British  

/ ˌkæsjʊəˈriːnə /

noun

1. any tree of the genus Casuarina, of Australia and the East Indies, having jointed leafless branchlets: family Casuarinaceae See also beefwood she-oak

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Etymology

Origin of casuarina

C19: from New Latin, from Malay kěsuari _cassowary , referring to the resemblance of the branches to the feathers of the cassowary

Example Sentences

I rolled past casuarina pines, coco plum bushes, limestone sea cliffs and Preacher’s Cave, where the island’s first settlers, English Puritans, gave sermons.

From New York Times • Jan. 30, 2013

Behind the beaches, beyond a fringe of graceful, feathery casuarina trees, lie the swamps�great stinking pestholes which house most of nature's nightmares: crocodiles, pythons, cobras, and the nasty little Anopheles, the mosquito of malaria.

From Time Magazine Archive

Here, jagged chunks of the old aquifer are thrown up on the banks and casuarina juxtaposes with native pine and palmetto.

From Time Magazine Archive

The trees growing here were casuarina, box, apple-gum, and ironbark.

From Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 2 by MacGillivray, John

Turning in the direction from which it proceeded, I saw a little to the right three figures upon the ground at the foot of a large casuarina.

From The Island Home by Dalziel