A genus of leafless trees or shrubs, with drooping branchlets of a rushlike appearance, mostly natives of Australia. Some of them are large, producing hard and heavy timber of excellent quality, called beefwood from its color.
                                                            
                                                     
                        
                                                
                        
                        
                            any of various trees and shrubs of the genus Casuarina having jointed stems and whorls of scalelike leaves; some yield heavy hardwood 
                                                            
                                                     
                        
                                                
                        
                        
                            Casuarina is a genus of shrubs and trees in the Family Casuarinaceae, native to Australia and islands of the Pacific. Once it was the sole genus in the family, but has been split into three genera (see Casuarinaceae), a proposal that is not universally accepted.