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

Content: They are dull green in color and
slightly hairy containing 5 to 8 pairs of oblong leaflets 1/8" wide and 3/8"
long. The Screwbean Mesquite blooms May through August displaying many
crowded, 2-inch clusters of 3/8-inch light yellow flowers. The fruit is a
hard, 2-inch, spiraled, brown-to-yellow pod with sweet pulp. Velvet Mesquite (Prosopis velutina)
Velvet Mesquite is a larger shrub or medium-size tree characterized by
straight, 2-inch spines on the branches. Often growing in dense thickets,
it is larger than the other species, reaching a height of 30 feet; the trunk
may be up to 24 inches in diameter. Velvet Mesquite has dark-brown, smooth bark that separates into long,
shaggy strips. Narrow, bipinnately compound leaves 2 to 3 inches long
are sharply pointed. They are dull green in color with gray hairs. Velvet Mesquite blooms in April, and sometimes again in August,
displaying small, fragrant, greenish yellow flowers in slender, cylindrical
spikes up to 4 inches long.