Title: Mesquite - description, history, use and benefits
Headings: MESQUITE

Content: Like the Indian peoples and
the Hispanic and Anglo settlers, the mesquites define
the very notions of individuality, adaptability,
opportunism, toughness and stubbornness. Occurring
as respectable trees or as small shrubs, they cover a
monumental range, spanning tens of millions of acres
from the southern Rolling Plains and the Texas Gulf
Coast westward across the Chihuahuan, Sonoran and
Mojave Deserts. They prosper in a diversity of
habitats, from humid and sandy coastal plains to the
grassy prairies to perennial and intermittent stream
beds to desert basin shrub lands and dunes to flattop
mesas to mile-high rocky mountain slopes. The mesquites, including the
three species in our
Southwestern deserts, belong
to the legume family, which
ranks near the top of plants
especially adapted to an arid
environment. Typically, the
legumes, which have woody
stems and branches, produce
bipinnately compound leaves
(leaves with two or more
secondary veins, each with
two rows of leaflets). They
bear flowers that have five
petals. They produce
abundant large seedpods that
serve as a nutritious food
source for wildlife. They grow
wide-spreading and
deep-reaching root systems
that host colonies of bacteria
that can fix nitrogen, one of
the minerals most important to
plant germination and growth. Our three species of mesquites, which include
the Honey Mesquite, the Velvet Mesquite and
the Screwbean Mesquite, share various
characteristics. They range from a few feet to
10 to 15 feet in height, although the Honey and
Velvet Mesquites may reach 30 to 60 feet in
especially favorable settings.