Re: Pandanus edibility - fragrance? - Hawaiian pines
- Subject: Re: Pandanus edibility - fragrance? - Hawaiian pines
- From: d* f*
- Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 10:34:22 -0700 (PDT)
--- Richard Starkeson <johnsaia@dnai.com> wrote:
> And as long as I am so far off topic, does anyone
> know if the pine-like tree
> seen on many sandy Hawaiian shores is actually a
> pine, and what its name is, and
> is it native or escaped?
>
Richard,
Not knowing much about Pandanas, can't answer those
questions, but the "Pine" you are seeing in Hawaii
along the beaches is actually a Casuarina, probably C.
equisetifolia. This is ubiquitous in subtropical to
tropical shores as a drought tolerant wind screen, and
the "needles" are actually branches, with the true
leaves rather inconspicuous, and also on closer
inspection appearing much like Athel Tamarisk. This
tree is also quite common in Florida, but is probably
too tender where winters regularly dip into the low
20'sF and below. This tree is useful in hurricane
areas, as the foliage is so sparse and limbs so limber
that it can survive winds that would carry away most
other trees, and they resprout rather easily from the
trunks. I had always thought it was an introduced
tree in Hawaii, although it is native over large areas
of the south Pacific.
Their are many other tropical species, some quite
attractive, and I saw several while in Malaysian
nurseries two summers ago that I had never seen here,
and many were quite different from the ones here, and
attractive. I've always thought that C. equisetifolia
is more utilitarian than pretty, a weed tree if you
will. (I'd much prefer to see a beach front screen of
Coconut palms than this tree in a tropical setting).
The other species more commonly planted in
mediterannean climates include C. stricta and C.
cunninghamiana, both of which are more substantial
trees, with darker green foliage and even more pine
like texture. These two species are well adapted to
hot dry inland climates of California, surviving quite
well on rainfall alone in coastal California. John,
there are some local plantings of C. stricta adjacent
to the east side Highway 80 frontage just north of
Powell St. exit in Emeryville, at the edge of the
parking lot by those two mirrored buildings. They are
also along California Blvd frontage in Burlingame,
between Millbrae Ave and Broadway, where they also
survive quite well without any care and in what looks
like the worst hard pan clay soil imaginable. People
usually assume these are pines...
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