Casuarinaceae

Fine, jointed, needle-like green branchlets that photosynthesise in place of true leaves, which are reduced to tiny toothed scales encircling each joint; tiny flowers ripen into a small, hard, cone-like woody fruiting head that looks remarkably like a conifer cone despite being a flowering plant.

Although it looks and even sounds like a pine from a distance, this is a true flowering plant, not a conifer at all.

To check whether a plant belongs to Casuarinaceae, compare the leaf arrangement, leaf type, flower symmetry, fruit type, and one distinctive marker together. A single feature can mislead; the family pattern is the combination.