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

Content: Honey
Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), Screwbean Mesquite
(Prosopis pubescens ) and Velvet Mesquite (Prosopis
velutina). All 3 are deciduous and have characteristic bean pods which have long
been used by humans, wildlife and livestock as a food source. It is
estimated that over 75% of a Coyote's diet in late summer is mesquite
beans. Native Americans relied on the mesquite pod as a dietary staple from
which they made tea, syrup and a ground meal called pinole. They also
used the bark for basketry, fabrics and medicine. A favorite of bees and
other insects, mesquite flowers produce a fragrant honey. The taproots, which can be larger than the trunk, are often dug up for
firewood. Next to Ironwood, mesquite is the best firewood of the desert,
because it burns slowly and is smokeless. The wood is also used for
fence posts, tool handles and to create aromatic charcoal for barbecuing. Cattlemen regard mesquite as range weeds and eradicate them, but
much of the invasion of mesquite into former grasslands, where it did not
grow a century ago, is due to overgrazing.