Casuarina Bonsai

By BonsaiPinoy Meet PINA, a native tree known locally in the Philippines as Aguho (Casuarina Equisetifolia). It is often mistaken as belonging to the pinus family (gymnosperms) but it is not. �That is not the case at all,� says Juan Armengol, a bonsai enthusiast from Bogota, Colombia (email communication, July 22, 2011). �Casuarina looks like pine and its leaves are needle-like; even the fruits resemble pine cones, but pines are gymnosperms, as cypresses, spruces, cedars, larches, etc. Casuarina is an angiosperm with modern flowers and all the reproductive and physiological characteristics of angiosperms. Casuarina belongs to the Fagales order, which comprises the beech family (Fagus), the chestnut family (juglans), the birch family (betula), other families and, of course, the Casuarinaceae (casuarina, she-oak).� Casuarina thrives in coastal areas in Southeast Asia and Pacific, including Hawaii, Australia and Florida (USA). It has also been growing wildly in elevated areas and mountain sides in Palawan and Mindanao islands. Training and Age of Pina This bonsai plant has been under training for six years (as of 2006, when I wrote this piece). It's actual age may probably be about twice, half of that was spent in the ground before I found it. Its history is unique. I saw it growing as part of a root system of an old Aguho tree on the playground of Mindanao State University at Iligan City. Impressed of its curved natural formation, I dug it in September 1999, hoping to save it and turn it into a bonsai plant. Pina has a sister, a clump, which I got from the same source. Bearing the same history, this clump has three trunks. Before I took Pina from its natural habitat, it had lived under the most traumatic conditions one can ever imagine. It was constantly trampled upon by ROTC cadets marching during their Sunday drills. Luckily, it survived. But years of punishment have left on it indelible imprints - its trunk is warped, and branches mangled. Pina, as I call this plant, is unable to rise beyond one foot from the ground. When I saw this plant, I pitied it and could not resist saving it from routine "torturing" by student marchers, who are oblivious to the plant's predicament. Pina has now found a home in my bonsai garden, living in harmony with other bonsai trees. PINA's Vital Statistics Height - 12 inches Trunk diameter - 2" Style - twisted trunk Preference - likes moderate amount of sunlight and plenty of rain Sexuality - grows from seeds and roots

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