Ironwood
Ironwood (Casuarina equisetifolia) or Australian pine tree, is a she-oak species of the genus Casuarina.
Casuarina is widely used as a bonsai subject, particularly in South-east Asia and parts of the Caribbean. Indonesian specimens and those cultivated in Taiwan are regarded among the best in the bonsai world. The wood of this tree is used for shingles, fencing, and is said to make excellent hot-burning firewood. Among the islands of Hawaii, Casuarina are also grown for erosion prevention, and in general as wind breaking elements.
The legendary miraculous spear Kaumaile came with the hero Tefolaha on the South Pacific island Nanumea. He fought with it on the islands of Samoa and Tonga. As Tefolaha died, "Kaumaile" went to his heirs, then to their heirs, and on and on - 23 generations. It is about 1.80 meters long and about 880 years old and the tree was cut on Samoa.
The Casuarina leaves are usually used for ornamental purposes in the urban region. Other than ornamental purposes, the Casuarina was also explored in for its potential in remediation of textile dye wastewater. The Casuarina leaves was found to useful as adsorbent material for the removal of textile dyes such as reactive orange, Rhodamine B, methylene blue, malachite green and methyl violet 2b. Similarly the Casuarina dried cone was also reported to be able to remove Rhodamine B, and methyl violet 2b. The Casuarina bark was reported to able to remove methylene blue. Even the Casuarina seed was also found to be useful in dye removal of neutral red and malachite green.The carbon derived from the cones of Casuarina was found to be good adsorbent for the landfill leachate, while another laboratory also reported good adsorbent for copper ions from aqueous solution.
We have found turkey tail (trametes versicolor) mushrooms growing on old ironwood logs in the past, so we suspect some of the patches of bleaching and zone lines are spalting found in ironwood sapwood from this fungus. More rarely we see small pink stained patches, likely from scytalidium cuboideum.
Janka Hardness: 2,190 lbf (9,730 N)
Average Dried Weight: 47 lbs/ft3 (750 kg/m3)
Specific Gravity: .75
More information: