Australian Pine, which really isn’t a pine
Casuarina equisetifolia: Dreaded Edible
It is truly fitting that the Australian Pine ends up on a site dedicated to edible plants because where it has been introduced it is a much-loathed tree by government botanists. But, where it is native the Casuarina was a life saver.
When I first moved to Florida, a life-time ago as a young man escaping snow, I slept out many a night under the Australian Pines listening to the sea breeze whistling through its needle-like branches, which brings up my first point: The Australian Pine is not a true pine. It looks like a pine but it is not a “pinus.” Pine needles are actually modified leaves. What looks like “needles” on the Australian Pine are actually branchlets. On those skinny needle-like branchlets are the minute leaves. So the tree is not edible like a pine. In fact, in Australia that “pine” it is called the She-Oak and the Bull-Oak — no, I have no idea why the gender bending. While not an oak either it does have several overlooked positive elements.
The first is its red sap is drinkable, should you ever need potable water. Next the gum of the tree is edible and was collected by the Aboriginals of Australia, where it is native. They also ate the young “cones” the branchlets and roasted winged seeds, though at 30,000 seeds a pound I’m sure that wasn’t easy.
Australian pines were introduced into Mexico before 1852, to the Caribbean at Barbados in 1870, Hawaii before 1895, and was naturalized in the West Indies and Florida by 1920. The rumor that John Ringling (1866-1936) of circus fame introduced the tree to Florida is not possible as stated. The Australian Pines were around some 14 years before he was born and were naturalized in Florida 16 years before he died. That he could have brought the species to Florida is possible though I would not think probable. Perhaps he planted one in Sarasota, his winter home.
As with many problem plants, the US Department of Agriculture had a hand in the tree’s introduction and proliferation. Seeds were readily available from California by 1908 and it was a common shade tree in Palm Beach by 1921 (the tree can grow eight feet a year, eclipsed only by the Moringa which can easily do 10 feet a year.) It can be trained into a hedge but is extremely vulnerable to fire and intolerant of frost. It also makes an excellent bonsai specimen (see photo on bottom.)
By 1940 it was one of the most widely planted trees in Florida, usually for ditch and canal stabilization as well as a wind break. It was the tree of choice to protect causeways to the Space Center, though artistically interrupted by the Melaleuca, also now on the biological hit list. Several memorable freezes since then has reduce that population but they can still be found along the shores of Indian River lagoon with a good stand unbelievably still at Haulover Canal north of the Space Center. Popular as they were, starting in 1952 cities were crafting ordinances against the species. To cities they pose an enormous financial burden, not only ruining water and sewer mains but buckling streets. Worse, they fall over.
The “needles” are actually branchlets
In their native habitat Australian Pines — called Casuarinas — send down strong deep roots to the water which make them extremely stable. They like uneven topography so they can tap into pockets of water. The geography in Florida is such that the tree sends its roots outward for water, horizontally, and is thus very unstable and prone to falling over, even in mild breezes let alone the afternoon hurricanes we call thunder storms or the many true hurricanes of late. Their removal, standing or down, is prohibitively expensive. By 1969 the tree was a serious threat to the Everglades, the Keys and south Florida in general. Yet, as late as 1976 the state’s agricultural department was still selling the trees (clearly a left hand, right hand problem.) On the up side Australian Pines have two flowering seasons and are a significant allergen from December to April and in August and September, keeping allergists in patients and money. Remember, there is no profit in curing an ailment, only in treating one.
If the trees were not invasive they would be recognized for their many good qualities. They return a lot of nitrogen to the soil and have a usable but brittle hard wood. It can be used for carving, small tool handles, boomerangs, spears, rough posts, beams, boat building, electric poles, fences, furniture, mine props, oars, pilings, roofing shingles, wagon wheels, yokes, canoe slats and hulls, shingles and high BTUs firewood. Seasoned outdoor cooks in Florida say it is one of the best woods for barbecuing adding a nice flavor to meats. Australian Pines have been called the best firewood in the world, and it can be burned green off the stump (as can ash.) India plants forests of them just for firewood. The Australian Pine is also noted for its firewood leaving a pure white ash that was ideal as a clothes whitener prior to commercial whiteners. The ash was also used in soap making. I also suspect it can be used to moderate acid in lichen to make them edible.
Of the 17 species seven were introduced to the Americas, four of which are still found here and there. The one on the coast is usually Casuarina equisetifolia, which lives to 40 to 50 years old. Inland in south Florida is the Casuarina glauca, the Swamp Oak or Brazilian Oak. Casuarina cristata, or the Black She-Oak, will not be found anywhere where it is salty and Casuarina Cunninghamiana, the River She-Oak, is found the farthest north in the state — Deland is about it, the 29th parallel or so– and always inland. The coastal one grows twice as tall as the inland ones, reaching 100 to 150 feet. Nothing will grow under them. They hate clay and being waterlogged. Rats don’t like them and their roots can trap sea turtle hatchlings. However, drinkable water can be obtained from the limbs or roots of the trees, the latter preferred. The branchlets can be chewed to moderate thirst. Gum collected from the trunk is melted with warm water to form a jelly prior to eating. The young female “cones” and stems are also chewed to relieve thirst. Or, young cones are cooked and eaten, the older seeds roasted. Fruiting in spring and fall locally, the cones stay on the tree all year. Male trees have flower spikes from yellow to brown at the end of branchlets, while female plants bear globular reddish flowers along the trunk and branches. Species are separated by the number of branchlet whorls and sex.
From a report 118 years ago:
Mr. A. T. Magarey, in a paper entitled “Aboriginal Water Quest,” in Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc. S.A. (session 1894-5), quotes Eyre, Vol. 1, 349-351, for an account of these water-bearing roots.
“Speaking of the Desert Oak (Casuarina Decaisneana, F.v.M.), he quotes Mr. W. H. Tietkens (“Ooldea Water,” region S.A.):— Travelling once with a small native boy of about 10 years of age, and towards the close of a dreadful day, the waterbag long since emptied and the boy gasping for water, and myself no better (the boy was riding a very unusually tall camel, we still had 15 miles more to travel), all at once a cry broke from him, and with one bound he was off that camel and running towards an [She]-oak tree, well four chains distant at least. I stopped the camels and went up to him. He was clawing away at the hot sandy soil, and at last — snap. A root one and a half inches thick was broken, a hard pull, and about 8 feet of root was exposed, lifting the soil as it was raised. About 2 feet length was broken off and upended into the mouth, and a cold drink the result. But not sufficient; another and another length was broken off till we had sufficient. We did not take any more than one root, and I think there were eight or ten more such roots — enough in abundance for a dozen men…..The water so obtained was cool, quite cool, colour- less, and refreshing; but I have noticed that upon exposure to the air for a few hours it becomes a pale brown colour, such as would be noticed in water into which a piece of bark has been dropped.”
Not only do the roots have water, but the branches as well. In Australia where they are often called Casuarinas, many times they grow where there is underground fresh water, even when near the ocean. The Aboriginals knew the tree always meant water one way or another. The tree also played a role in the mysticism of many of indigenous people.
The Tahitians believed they arose from warriors who died in battle, killed by clubs or spears made from the Australian Pine. The warriors’ hair became the foliage and their blood oozed forth once more as the red sap.
Casuarina (Kass-yew-uh-RYE-nuh ) refers to the fine filamentous branches. They supposedly resemble the cassowary feathers . Equisetifolia (ek-wih-set-ih-FOL-ee-uh) means resembling a horse’s tail. Also, most of the Casuarina discussed here have been moved into a different genus, Allocasurina (meaning like the Casuarina.) So you can find them listed both ways.
Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile
IDENTIFICATION:
Pine-like tree of open, erect growth to 150 feet, dark-green hair-like “needles” are miniature, jointed branches, fruit a cone-like, woody, with sharp points (some species smooth) three quarters of an inch long, half inch wide. Here’s how to tell the local species: Six to eight leaf scales per whorl. C. equisetifolia; C. glauca 10-17 leaf scales per whorl. C. cunninghamiana 8-10 leaf scales per whorl.
TIME OF YEAR:
Sap all year, young branchlets all year, cones when young, summer, they persist all year
ENVIRONMENT:
Varies with species, some tolerate salt well, and are found on shore, others cannot tolerate salt and are usually found inland. They like it wet.
METHOD OF PREPARATION:
From Aboriginal reports: Sap from branches and roots drinkable. Gum from tree or cones edible or can be put in warm water and drank. Young branches and cones chewed to quench thirst. Young cones and leaves edible cooked. Seeds edible when roasted.
HERB BLURB
A decoction from the astringent bark has been used as a remedy for diarrhea, beri-beri, sore throat, cough, headache, toothache, sores, and swellings. They would mix the bark with water for application. Extracts from the bark are also used for tanning hides and staining and preserving fishing lines and fabrics.
Amazing i knew about the use in BBQ but never knew you could drink the sap. Also I’ve heard it is great for fireplaces cause it doesn’t contain creosote, correct me if I’m wrong but that’s what heard great article though
Australian “pine” needles are used by Florida beekeepers as the “perfect” smoker fuel. The needles have all of positive fuel characteristics of pine needles without the creosote.
I love your website – made a small donation. Have been obsessed with wanting to eat the pine cones from Australian pines outside my south Florida apartment – yet don’t know how to prepare them or whether they are truly edible. Likewise the needles.
Thank you for the donation. The Aborigials did eat them young and cooked but… different time and place and stomachs. The tips of the “needles” are edible but not worth it.
Dear Deane,
Today I “ate” a pine needle tip. Actually chewed it till it wouldn’t chew any more. Although I sometimes dream of living someplace surrounded by wild plants untouched by chemical preparations, I actually am surrounded by lots and lots of Australian pines.
There is also dollar weed, but since it is on a golf course it is likely very heavily chemicalized.
I was reading Edgar Cayce’s advice about how chewing young tender ragweed leaves can be very beneficial to one’s health, so I thought, why not see what young tender Australian pine needles will do, since I am fairly sure they are not dangerous to eat.
I did find a web site which made some claims for the health benefits of Australian pine needles. We’ll see.
Hi Deane
Do you remember the name of the Australian Website that spoke about the benefits of Aust. Pine Needles. I have a pine tree on my property and I am not sure if it is one that can be used in teas or if it is a poisoness, not sure how to find out as most of the videos I have watched are on pine trees in America.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Regards
Dorett
I grew up in Bradenton Florida. Out South Beach called Coquina Beach has had 90 100 foot Australian Pines since i was a youth. they have survived Hurricanes and are still standing. When I was on a historic Tour in the Bahamas I was told that Sailors planted these on Islands including the Bahamas for wood used in Boat Repair. This is the only story i have found that says they were used in boat Building. My though was the reason it was called the SHE TREE was due to boat Building. Boats always called “SHE” As far as them living 50 years. Well the trees on our beach were 100 feet tall 50 years ago when I first saw them And are still there today. If this is true I wonder if they were also planted for a source of fresh water on these islands?
It is called a Sheoak because when the white settlers came to Australia they saw that the wood had very little value and (though it ‘apparently’ looked like one) was lesser to the English Oak, due to *cough* sexist *cough* views at the time, it was named a Sheoak due to its lesser value to the Oaks that the English were used to.
Source: I’m a young aussie studying and working in conservation and was told this by one of the lovely keepers down at Whiteman Park in Perth, WA.
From South Bay ,Fla what species of pine on the south side of lake Okceechobee.great wood long burning, around the glades we used for many many years!!!
Wow… I drove through South Bay yesterday.
I have always put pine needles under my strawberry plants as they are acid and I believe good for strawberry growth. This year I have been unable to find any but have a supply of she oak “needles” which I could use instead. Do you know if they might work.
thanks
No. The trees are in two different families. More to the point few plants grow under the Australian Pine because it puts out chemicals to inhibit other plants from growing. It needles would probably ruin your strawberries.
I’ve just been putting together a blog post about casuarinas locally in Australia and found your information very useful. You commented that you didn’t know why the common names are “gender-bended”. I just discovered that casuarinas have male and female forms, thus the “sheoak” and “bulloak”. Only the females have the little seed cones. They’ve been around me all my life and I never noticed.
The Australian Pines have offered me and my Orange trees much protection high winds and many hurricanes. They are also great blue flame firewood during the winter.
went out to check this out and see if I could get any water from the roots, branches, sap.
no luck first try, everything was dry and astringent.
will try again.
on Kauai in Hawaiian islands
hi. very informative article. i live in florida and have many australian pines. i was wondering if i can use them for basket weaving. also, do i prepare them (soaking) as i would any other pine needle? thank you.
They are branches rather than needles so I really don’t know.
Hi Deane,
I have read and used the wealth of information you publish for my Florida students (survival courses). Now that I live in the far east (Okinawa) I am curious if the Australian “pine” is native here. I just cut a cord by hand and it’s not piney at all! Thanks,
Bob
The Australian Pine is not in the Pinus genus and is more closely related to the oaks. That is why it is not “piney.” It has the common name “pine” because of how it looks.
Can I use the needles for ground cover around shrubs?
Hmmmmm…. might not be a good idea. Could kill your shrubs.
Thank you
thank you Deane….born in Bradenton fl, always loved the look of the tree…hated having towalk ver cones to get to indian rocks beach…..moved away and wah devastated when cold front in 69 killed all the trees….soo glad tosee them returning to the beaches of south florida….credit randy wayne white, author of doc ford novels, for sendng me looking up the causarina tree…found youpage….awesome info…thank you again1111
Found this after searching for information as there is an area along the coast, near where I live (Puerto Rico) that is full of these. They are tall, 15-25m. I always see pelicans resting on the branches.
Location:
https://www.google.com.pr/maps/@18.4187657,-65.823021,402m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en
Does the Australian pine need to be sprayed for bugs if so how often
In Chicagoland area
Article states that you can use the wood for bbq can you use for smoking meats as well
I have many of the Trees in my yard, During Hurricanes, David, Erin, Floyd, Charlie, Francis, Gene, Mathew, Irma.. All saved my property from severe wind damage. Also in the summers from the very intense afternoon seabreeze collisions causing windsheer, microburst, and extreem straight line winds,several “gustnados” we call the here in the Space center area of Brevard County Florida, Also EF-0 tornadoes spawned by fronts and the seabreeze collisions. Although during hurricanes it gets very loud and Howls eeriely, especialy during night hours, with no power, it does scare the Snowbirds into panicking, and young children.
They circumvent almost 2/3 rds of my property, while labor intensive to control the quick advancedment. I must maintain a steady and aggressive control, they spread along the roorlines so fast, in a blink of an eye, they advanced 10 ft. increaseing its perimeter per year.
However I never knew they could be used for barbecue ..Smoking? is question I have? I can only think yes from the correspondances above?.
I heard they were good furniture wood.
Wonderful article full of interest. A few comments, in no special order.
“Australian pine” is a very odd name to use for Casurinas, and is presumably a US-only thing. I’ve certainly never heard it before. One wonders what the local name is for Callitrus species, which are common, quite widespread, also Australian and pines. (Real ones. The seeds of these are probably edible, birds certainly eat them.)
At least one Casurina species mentioned is also a noted weed problem in Australia, C. cunninghamiana, the River Sheoak, which has been introduced to areas it does not belong in.
Many of the 100-odd casurina species are frost-hardy and most quite drought-hardy. It is just as well these have not been introduced where you are. Along with one or two other groups, casurinas dominated most of the continent until the rise of fire-loving eucalypts and acacias gradually forced them out of more heavily timbered areas and into (mostly) dryer, more open country.
Bulloak is a particular casurina species, Allocasurina luehmannii. (The genus was split some years ago: the term “casurina” is still used to indicate both genera in casual usage.) Sheoak is a more general term, sometimes meaning all casurinas, more often as a part of a species name, such as River Sheoak or Drooping Sheoak.
I have not heard of casurina wood being particularly valuable as firewood before. So far as I know, it’s not regarded as such here, presumably because Australia is generally poor in softwoods but rich in hardwoods, eucalypts in particular, some of them fairly slow-growing, very hard, and very heavy, which tends to make for excellent firewood.
And finally, I didn’t know that casurina was good to eat! Thanks again for a wonderful page.
I read that deciduous trees only make sap. Since the tree is deciduous. Would the gum of the Australian pine be resin, sap or neither.
They were sure use as wind breaks in the Snow Crop Groves all along
the South Tamiami Trail in Sarasota Fl in my time (40’s-50’s.) We camped out under them on the Bay Islands. Thanks for the info. Learned some new things about them. Wonder if any were around in the early 1870 when my family showed up.
I have an apartment in Titusville Florida, inland of the water. These trees are 80/90 feet tall. The ground in my back yard is raised up 4+ feet from their roots. Nevada the sewer lateral. Can not grow any grass or plants there. City if Titusville planted them and they are on their property but invading mine. We spray kills all to keep them out of our property but the roots still invade. What can I plant out there? How can I back them up further from my property. If I try to out and out kill them, they would fall on either my house or others and crush them. Help please.
Hello
Can I boil the leaves as tea? Thank you.
They are not leaves but branches. I don’t think they are harmful but certainly are tasteless.
I remember on a scout camping trip in the Boca Raton area (mid 1950’s), trying to cut a fallen Australian Pine with an ax and it almost bounced off of the log rather than cut into it. I mentioned that experience to a man I was working for and he told me how he had carved some bearings for a tractor engine out of Australian Pine due to material scarcity for bearings during WWII.
I am 64 and grew up in Daytona Beach. These trees are a good indicator of the heat and frost cycles that go through that area: Apparently, when I was a small child, we were in a “warm” cycle because Australian pines were everywhere. There is a photo of Fulgencio Batista taken during a parade by Riverfront Park in 1956, and the park is all Australian pines. There also are photos on Facebook from my elementary school: It and the surrounding neighborhood (Douglass Park: it was razed 20 years ago to make room for Daytona State College and hospital) are thick with Australian pines. They disappeared rather quickly around my middle school years but have begun a comeback in people’s backyards and in the grounds of the mansions along the Halifax River (intracoastal waterway). At the same time, the Norfolk Island Pine has popped up everywhere in the last 30 years, to the point where it appears every house in Daytona/Port Orange/Ormond Beach has a tall one in its yard.
Hi, currently people are hunting all over for the right pine in Australia to make pine needle tea. The correct one needs to contain suramin. This appears to be an antidote for shedding of the spike protein in the mrna solution. The spike protein harms others, even when they have not had the injection.
Can you tell me if there are true pines (ideally in WA) which match the types found in the EU and canada/US, as they contain this element?
Thankyou
It should be in the pitch of any true pine (that is in the genus pinus.)
Hi Katie, I’m looking for this info also for the same reason. Have you managed to find any more info yet?
I also want to this this too, but in Victoria. And am also keen to know any info you find out!
Hi
I am looking for the correct pine tree in Queensland
Any ideas
I am here for that reason too!
Does the casuarina contain suramin?
I would doubt it. Suramin is associated with species in the genus Pinus. The Australian Pine is not in that genus and is more closely related to oaks than pines. This is a good example why common names aren’t useful.
Suramin do you know what Australian pines have this ? Thank you jenn
They are called She-Oaks as the wood itself is very similar and was often used as an alternative for oak timber in colonial Australia.
For the people asking about using she oak needles as mulch: certain times of the year our creek is flooded and leaves behind huge piles of allocasuarina cunninghamia (river sheoak) needles and branches. We use this resource as mulch in the garden and it is excellent.
Excellent information. Hope we find some good sources for biological control of this species. It is quite invasive in Florida, and as you stated, prohibitively expensive to remove. It tends to make upland islands in Wetlands.
First of all ‘m against deforestation. When i came to S. Florida in 1973 I will said that almost 70% of the area was covered by beautiful Australian Pine trees. I remember going to Key Biscayne, Bill Baggs State Park, Along US41 TaMiami Trail west of Palmetto Xpressway and many other places in S. Fla. where you be able to find those beautiful trees. I consider this spicy as S. Florida Native. It’s been here for over 100 years. I won’t call them invaders, why? you will ask, because someone brought them here, they didn’t come by themselves to invade S. Florida, so I believe they should be protected no destroy them. So please be so kind with them and protect this unique tree species U.S. Department Of Agriculture. Also I remember way back in those days people be able to enjoy more time at the beach since those Australian Pine Trees just to provide a lot of shade and cool breeze from the ocean under the hot weather in south Florida. Also it used to rain more. Now it rain less in South Florida comparing like before when we used to have more of those beautiful Australian Pine Trees. Again I’M AGAINST DEFORESTATION AND AGAINST OF ANY DESTRUCTION OF THE AUSTRALIAN PINE TREES WORLDWIDE.