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BEEFWOOD

Casuarina equisetifolia
(and likely several others)
NOTE: the whole "beefwood / Australian pine" categorization
appears to be flawed and this page will be redone at some point

Casuarina equisetifolia (syn. Casuarina littorea) of the family Casuarinacea. Also known as Australian pine and sheoak, this evergreen species, native to Australia, has caused me great difficulty because there is a HUGE range of wood that is given this name and although I'm pretty confident that it is NOT all the same wood, all I can do here is report what I see. The only thing they seem to have in common is that they are all listed as being native to Australia. It is WILDLY optimistic of me to post all the pics on one page as though they all belonged together, but I really don't know what else to do.

Under the name "Australian pine", this species (NOT a true pine) is listed as native to Australian and part of Asia and has been planted in Florida, in parts of which it is now considered an invasive species because it tends to kill off other plant-life around it. I have found very few wood pics on the Internet listed as Australian pine and while beefwood pics are plentiful, so is the number of different species that have beefwood as all or part of one or more of their common names. In fact there are at least 34 species from 17 unrelated genera that have beefwood as all or part of one or more of their common names.

The species Grevillea striata is often listed as beefwood but the pics that come with it generally seem to be somewhat like lacewood and NOT a smooth uniform figure like much of the wood that is listed as Australian pine.

my samples: NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K) colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank of Australian pine / Casuarina equisetifolia


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both side of a sample plank given to me as Australian pine --- this piece very hard and dense


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of Australian pine / Casuarina equisetifolia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

Someone, whose name I have temporarily misplaced, sent me this sample as "Australian pine" but with no botanical designation, so I cannot be sure it is Casuarina equisetifolia, but I do note that it seems quite similar to the Wood Book pics (see below) in which I have MUCH more confidence than internet listings.


both sides of a small piece of Australian pine from florida, milled and contributed by Funktionhouse, with my thanks.


face grain closeups of the piece directly above


end grain closeups from both "ends" (physically, sides) of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above

---

The Wood Book pics


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
beefwood (Casuarina equisetifolia, also listed as Australian pine and sheoak) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views

web pics:

beefwood log ends listed as Grevillea striata


large slabs listed as Australina pine (that's a person's arm in the lower right)


planks --- these were all gathered from the name "beefwood" or "Australian beefwood) but either I did not at the time make a note of any botanical designation that was listed with them or (more likely) there was not one




planks and closeup


planks listed as beefwood / Australian pine / Casuarina equisetifolia


plank listed as Australian beefwood / Casuarina equisetifolia


both of these planks were listed as casuarina / Casuarina equisetifolia but it sure seems unlikely that they are from the same species and neither of them looks much like most of the rest of the woods on this page. This is just another example of why I find this wood/woods so confusing.


plank listed as beefwood / Casuarina eqistifolia


planks listed as Australian beefwood / Grevillia striata


plank listed as beefwood / Grevillia striata


plank listed as Australian beefwood / Stenocarpus salignus


curly plank


fishing rod


wine rack listed as Australian pine


this dresser was listed as Australian pine, but I find that laughable --- it's pretty clear some kind of "normal" pine (genus Pinus)


bedroom set listed as Australian pine


chest listed as Australian pine


boxes listed as Autralian pine / Casuarina spp.


boxes listed as Australian pine


Australian beefwood bowls


two views of a bowl listed as Australian beefwood


pen turned from beefwood / Grevillea striata. Photograph contributed to the site by the pen turner, Bruce Selyem, whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The pen is finished with shellwax.