What is a she-oak?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
January 13, 2006
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In 1758, Linnaeus named a flightless and, astonishingly, head-armored bird from Australia and New Guinea, Casuarius casuarius, the southern or double-wattled cassowary. The name was Latinized from the bird's
Malay name, kasuari.
One year later, Linnaeus gave the Australian pine or she-oak* the generic designation, Casuarina. It is said the persistent fine branches, drooping on the lower limbs, reminded him of the cassowary's plumage.
Long before the Western world knew of these unique trees, the natives of the Oceanic Islands, Polynesia, and Australia knew and utilized the hard wood. Boomerangs made of she-oak were found in a peat bog in South Australia. Aerodynamic, yet ancient, these weapons carbon dated as 9,000 to 10,200 years ago, the end of the last Ice Age.
The wood was also used to make shields, spears, and digging sticks. The wood remarkably burns with almost no smoke, produces considerable heat, and leaves only a small amount of fine white ash.
The wood from various species of she-oaks ranges from golden to reddish-orange to deep red. The English, settling in Australia, used she-oak for furniture, flooring, and barrels. But the wood is not as heavy or hard as the English oak. Although, it was a more-than-acceptable substitute, woodworkers declared it not as strong as the English oak; therefore, the wood was a 'she-oak'.
*Special "Thank you" to Tony Arcuri, Tampa, for asking the question.
(Compiled from: W3TROPICOS, Jim Solomon, VAST Nomenclatural Database, Missouri Botanical Garden; The Century Dictionary Online, 1889, published to the internet by Global Language Resources, 2001-2006; "She-oak", Woodfinder's Wood Library, Woodfinder—Sources of Lumber, Veneer, Plywood, and Laminates; "Wyrie Swamp", Speaking Land, Australian Aboriginal Cultures Gallery, South Australian Museum, 2000.)
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
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What is one of nature's most unique items? Plants that Changed History - December 30, 2003
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National Geographic®
Exclusively from National Geographic, this survivor from the age of the dinosaurs is one of the greatest living fossils discovered in the 20th century. The Wollemi pine is one of the world's oldest and rarest tree species, belonging to a 200-million-year-old plant family thought to have been extinct for more than two million years. Previously known only from fossil records, it was presumed extinct until a single tree was found in the Wollemi National Park, Australia, in 1994. Subsequent research discovered 100 adult trees that have survived in a single canyon in this wild and rugged area.
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