Title: Mesquite Tree - Prosopis pubescens, Prosopis velutina, Prosopis glandulosa - DesertUSA
Headings: Mesquite Tree
Mesquite Tree
Prosopis pubescens, Prosopis velutina, Prosopis glandulosa
Mesquite Beans
Getting Acquainted with Mesquite
Adaptations to the Desert Environment
Range
Mesquites as Botanical Enemies
Mesquites as Botanical Friends
Something that Belongs
The Desert Environment
The North American Deserts
Desert Geological Terms

Content: Mesquites 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. The 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. They may have single or multiple-branched stems, with each plant assuming its own distinctive shape – and come armed with thorns on their smaller branches. Mesquites shed their leaves in the winter but will bloom from spring into summer, bearing small frothy-looking clusters – called “catkins” – of tiny, five-petalled, pale green or yellowish flowers, which lure numerous pollinating insects. They produce pods that contain hard and long-lasting seeds that must be scarified (cut or slit) before they will germinate. Mesquites have lateral roots that extend far beyond the canopies of the plants and taproots that penetrate well below the surface of the soil. Some mesquites may live for more than two centuries according to Thomas B. Wilson, Robert H. Webb and Thomas L. Thompson, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-8. The honey mesquite, distinguished by smooth-surfaced leaflets, makes its primary home in the Chihuahuan Desert, east of the Continental Divide, although its outer range extends across the Sonoran Desert as well. The closely related velvet mesquite, marked by velvet-surfaced leaflets, has as its primary residence the Sonoran Desert, west of the Continental Divide.