Title: Mesquite ecology | Texas Natural Resources Server
Headings: Mesquite ecology
Mesquite ecology
Seed ecology and seedling establishment
Growth and development
Rooting characteristics and water use patterns
Effects on other species and soils
Mesquite management
Literature Cited

Content: This paper summarizes mesquite geographical distribution, seed ecology, growth and development, rooting and water use patterns, and effects on other plant species, wildlife and soils. Once viewed strictly as a noxious plant that needed to be eradicated, recent data indicate potential benefits of mesquite if managed as a savanna, or a mosiac of grasslands and thickets. Mesquite (genus Prosopis) is a thorny shrub or tree of the legume family which occurs naturally in arid and semiarid areas of North and South America, northern Africa, and eastern Asia. Most of the over 40 species of mesquite are native to South America, which is thought to be the area of origin for mesquite (Burkhart and Simpson 1977). The two species of concern in the southwestern U.S. are honey mesquite ( P. glandulosa) and velvet mesquite ( P. velutina ). Honey mesquite is found mainly in Texas, New Mexico and northern Mexico, with plants occurring in California, Oklahoma, Kansas and Louisiana. Velvet mesquite occurs mainly in southern Arizona, but is also found in California and northern Mexico. Although the geographical distribution of mesquite in the southwestern United States has remained stable, densities within stands have increased since the late nineteenth century. This trend has been attributed to man’s influence, either through suppression of natural fires or dissemination of mesquite seed by the herding and migration of domestic livestock (Archer 1989). Historical accounts differ as to original density and distribution of mesquite in Texas.