Not everything is as it appears to be. This post will provide the answer to this month’s mystery macro. Sadly, no one guessed the correct answer. And to tell you the truth, I am embarrassed to say that until just a few days ago, I had the wrong answer, too... and I took the picture! Here is a look at the entire photo from which the mystery macro photo was taken:
Do you have a better idea now of what it may be? Part of a tree, right? Well, for the next picture let’s take a step way back and look at the whole ‘forest’.
So now you’re probably thinking: “Pine trees!”. WRONG. That was my answer, but like I said, not everything is as it appears to be. I started out investigating what type of pine tree it was only to find out that it wasn’t a pine tree at all. It only appeared to be a pine tree. “But wait!”, I said to myself, clinging to straws, “Aren't those pine needles? Isn’t that a baby pine cone?”
Nope. What is this mysterious tree then? Well, what makes a pine tree a pine tree? Pine cones of course! Or more precisely, to bore you with technical blah blah blah, pine trees are conifers of the Pinaceae family. And although this tree is an evergreen, it does not have pine cones, it does not have pine needles, and it is not a conifer. It’s not even in the same family. What we have here is a genuine imitation, bonafide ‘wannabe pine tree’!
This is the Coastal She-oak (Casuarina equisetifolia) of the Casuarinaceae family. It has a long list of common names, some of which add to its ‘wannabe’ character: Agoho, Australian Pine, Beach Oak, Beach She-oak, Beach Casuarina, Coast She-oak, Filao Tree, Horsetail Beefwood, Horsetail She-oak, Horsetail Tree, Ironwood Tree, Whistling Tree and Whistling Pine. Whew! Did you get all that? The second part of its scientific name equisetifolia comes from the Latin word equisetum, meaning “horse hair”. This is a reference to the resemblance the drooping branches have to horse tail hair. A ‘wannabe horse’ too? With so many names it appears to be a ‘wannabe everything’!
So then just what are those pine needle and pine cone looking things? Look more closely at the first and third pictures. The fruit only superficially resembles conifer pine cones. The pictures we took were early in the season so they are green. But they will become woody and each bump (called a carpel) will contain a seed with a wing. And the foliage? What you see are much-branched, slender grey-green twigs. They are sectional so that they can be easily pulled apart in one-inch segments. Again this was early in the season. Later the twigs will produce flowers. In order to show this, we are going to momentarily side-step our policy of only showing photos we have personally taken. The following photo is from the Wikipedia photo database:
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| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Casuarina_equisetifolia_leaves.jpg |
The native range of the Coastal She-oak extends from Burma and Vietnam throughout Malaysia east to French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu, and south to Australia. It can also be found as an introduced plant in the southern United States (where it is considered an invasive species in Florida) and western Africa. And we can add to this list: Bolivia!
There are of course plants and animals in Bolivia that are more mysterious, but to tell you the truth... The Wannabe Pine Tree really took me by surprise!
Fascinating!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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