the scientific name of a largegroup of trees common to India, and other parts lying betweenIndia and Australasia, but more numerous in Australia thanelsewhere, and often forming a characteristic feature of thevegetation. They are the so-called She-oaks (q.v.). Theword is not, however, Australian, and is much older than thediscovery of Australia. Its etymology is contained in thequotation, 1877.
1806. `Naval Chronicles,' c. xv. p. 460:
«Clubs made of the wood of the Casuarina.»
1814. R. Brown, `Botany of Terra Australis,' in M. Flinders'`Voyage to Terra Australis,' vol. ii. p. 571:
«Casuarinae. The genus Casuarina is certainly notreferable to any order of plants at present established. . . it may be considered a separate order. . . . The maximumof Casuarina appears to exist in Terra Australis, where itforms one of the characteristic features of the vegetation.»
1855. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' p. 160:
«The dark selvage of casuarinas fringing its bank.»
1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 10:
«The vegetation assumed a new character, the eucalyptus andcasuarina alternating with the wild cherry and honeysuckle.»
1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 34:
«The scientific name of these well-known plants is asappropriate as their vernacular appellation is odd andunsuited. The former alludes to the cassowary (Casuarius), theplumage of which is comparatively as much reduced among birds,as the foliage of the casuarinas is stringy among trees. Hencemore than two centuries ago Rumph already bestowed the nameCasuarina on a Java species, led by the Dutch colonists, whocall it there the Casuaris-Boom. The Australian vernacularname seems to have arisen from some fancied resemblance of thewood of some casuarinas to that of oaks, notwithstanding theextreme difference of the foliage and fruit; unless, asDr. Hooker supposes, the popular name of these trees and shrubsarose from the Canadian `Sheack.'»
1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 397:
«From a fancied resemblance of the wood of casuarinas to thatof oak, these trees are called `oaks,' and the same anddifferent species have various appellations in various parts.»
1890. C. Lumholtz; `Among Cannibals,' p. 33:
«Along its banks (the Comet's) my attention was drawn to anumber of casuarinas – – those leafless, dark trees, which alwaysmake a sad impression on the traveller; even a casual observerwill notice the dull, depressing sigh which comes from a groveof these trees when there is the least breeze.'»