casuarinales

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. An order of dicotyledonous, archichlamydeous plants. It is characterized by monœcious flowers, the staminate, with two sepal-like organs and one central stamen, arranged in terminal spikes or catkins; the fertile, destitute of floral envelops, arranged in short heads at the ends of lateral branchlets. The order is coextensive with the family Casuarinaceæ, which contains the genus Casuarina only, with about 23 species, chiefly Australasian, but found also in tropical Asia and the Sunda and Mascarene islands. One species, Casuarina equisetifolia, has become established in many tropical countries and occurs in peninsular Florida and the Keys.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. an order of chiefly Australian trees and shrubs comprising the casuarinas, having only one family, Casuarinaceae.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. order of chiefly Australian trees and shrubs comprising the casuarinas; 1 family: Casuarinaceae