Casuarinaceae
Casuarinaceae R.Br., Voy. Terra Austral. 2: 571. 1814. nom. cons. 'Casuarina Family'
Salient Features
Members are trees or shrubs, monoecious or dioecious, with drooping equisetoid branches.
Leaves scale like, minute, whorled at node, often connate forming toothed sheath.
Inflorescence catkin, flowers unisexual, minute, subtended by bracts.
Perianth absent, stamen 1, carpel 2, united with superior ovary.
Fruit a samara, aggregation of fruit looks like cones.
Diversity:
World- 4 genera, 91 species (The Plant List 2013); 4 genera, 91 species (Christenhusz & Byng 2016); 4 genera, 95 species (Mabberley 2017); 4 genera, 92 species (CoL 2021)
India - 1 genus, 2 species (Karthikeyan. 2000; BSI, 2021))
Indian Himalaya- 2 genera, 2 species (Singh et al. 2019)
Uttarakhand - 1 genus, 1 species (Uniyal et al. 2007)
General Characters:
Casuarinaceae in Watson & Dallwitz (1992 onwards)
Casuarinaceae in POWO 2021 (Plants of the World Online)
Casuarinaceae in Wikipedia
Systematic Position of Family in Different Systems of Classifications:
Systematic position in 2-Superkingdom, 7-Kingdom classification of Ruggiero et al. (2015)
Super Kingdom- Eukaryota, Kingdom- Plantae, Subkingdom- Viridiplantae, Infrakingdom- Streptophyta, Superphylum- Embryophyta, Phylum- Tracheophyta, Subphylum- Spermatophytina, Superclass- Angiospermae, Class- Magnoliopsida, Superorder- Rosanae, Order- Fagales
Bentham & Hooker (1862-83)
Class : Dicotyledons
Subclass : Monochlamydeae
Series : Unisexuales
Engler & Prantl (1887-1915)
Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Embryophyta Siphonogama
Subdivision : Angiospermae
Class : Dicotyledoneae
Subclass : Archichlamydeae
Order : Verticillatae
Hutchinson (1973)
Phylum : Angiospermae
Subphylum : Dicotyledones
Division : Lignosae
Order : Casuarinales
Cronquist (1988)
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Subclass : Hamamelidae
Order : Casuarinales
Thorne & Reveal (2007)
Class : Magnoliopsida
Subclass : Hamamelididae
Super Order: Hamamelidanae
Order : Betulales
Takhtajan (2009)
Phylum : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Subclass : Hamamelidae
Super Order : Hamamelidanae
Order : Casuarinales
Reveal (2012)
Class : Equisetopsida
Subclass : Magnoliidae
Super Order : Rosanae
Order : Juglandales
APG-IV (2016)
Clade : Angiosperms
Clade : Eudicots
Clade : Core Eudicots
Clade : Superrosids
Clade : Rosids
Clade : Fabids
Order : Fagales
Shipunov (2020)
Class : Angiospermae
Subclass : Rosidae
Super Order : Rosanae
Order : Fagales
Genera & Species in Pantnagar
To see larger images please click on the names
***Cultivated Flora***
Casuarina equisetifolia L.
Vernacular name: Casuarina, Common Ironwood, Horse-tail tree, Whistling Pine (English); Junglisaru (Hindi)
Nativity: India to West Pacific (POWO, 2019)
Common Characteristics: Monoecious tall tree. Leaves needle like, scale leaves in whorls of 6 to 8. Fruits cone like.
Flowering period: September to May
Propagation Methods: Propagated by seeds (Dave’s Garden)
Photographed @ CAVS