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

Content: In lateral reach,
they out compete other plants in the
battle for soil moisture. In their
taproots’ downward reach, they find
subsurface water, sometimes 150
to perhaps 200 feet below the
surface. According to the Arizona-
Sonora Desert Museum Internet
site, “The mesquite’s root system is
the deepest documented; a live
root was discovered in a copper
mine over 160 feet (50 meters)
below the surface.” During the Ice Ages, which lasted from about
1.8 million to some 10,000 years ago, the
mesquites “coevolved with large herbivores,
such as mastodons and ground sloths, which
ate the pods and then dispersed them widely
in their feces,” said the Arizona-Sonora Desert
Museum Internet site. The mesquites found
the arrangement to be ideal. The seeds
became scarified by mastication, preparing
them for germination. Seed parasites died
when exposed to the animals’ gut juices. The
seeds found moisture and nutrients in the
animals’ dung. It proved to be a perfect
formula for expansion.