Panther #45 - Exotic vegetation Mystery Cache

For as long as settlers and explorers have been coming to Florida, plants and animals not native to our area have been introduced into the local ecosystems, sometimes with disastrous effects. It has been documented that Florida has acquired over 1,500 exotic plants and animals which are reproducing on their own in the wild & apart from human cultivation.

Exotic plants have been brought to Florida for different reasons, some as food sources for early settlers, some introduced years ago by collectors as specimens and shared with friends that in turn shared with others. In more recent times many were introduced as landscape components.

Not ALL exotics are bad, the problem exotic plants are considered "invasive" because a lack of natural controlling factors such as climate, diseases or insect pests can give them enough of an advantage to outgrow and overwhelm Florida's native species. Once established, invasive exotic plants displace our native plants and are difficult to eradicate. Depending on the circumstances and the species, eradication efforts may employ manual removal, chemical sprays, biological controls or more often a combination of these methods.

AUSTRALIAN PINE - Casuarina equisetifolia, C. glauca, C. cunninghamiana

Several species of these trees were brought to Florida in the late 1800's. They were planted to provide windbreaks along canals, agricultural fields and seashores, but its shallow roots made it more of a hazard than a benefit. Hurricanes and heavy storms often uproot them creating even more issues when they topple over, blocking stream flows and creating erosion issues along our beaches. 

Australian pines are not really pines at all but are deciduous trees which can grow to more than 100 feet tall. The "needles" are actually small, segmented branchlets - the leaves are very tiny, scale-like and are produced in whorls at the joints of these branchlets. Fruits are small winged nutlets called samaras which are produced in small cone-like structures.

Trees form dense monocultures crowding out native plants and prohibiting native seedling germination with their dense mats of fallen foliage. They also produce allelopathic compounds which prevent other plants from growing. 

PUZZLE: What are the small fruits of the Australian pine called (plural)?

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