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

Content: 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. Range
Sonoran, Mojave and Chihuahuan deserts from western Texas, west to
extreme southwestern Utah, southeastern California and adjoining
Mexico. Habitat
Alongside desert washes and streams, plains and hillsides, often in
thickets below 5,500 feet. Description
Honey Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa)
Honey Mesquite is a shrub or small tree characterized by 8-inch,
bean-like pods and 3-inc spines occurring at large nodes on branches. It
reaches a height of 20 feet; the trunk may be up to 12 inches in diameter.