Honey Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa)

   
 

Fig. 1. Honey Mesquite in full tree form. Photograph by Wynn Anderson. Fig. 2. Seed pods, scanned image by A.H. Harris. Fig. 3. Foliage and fruit. Photograph by Wynn Anderson.

• Common Names: Honey Mesquite
• Common Spanish Names: Mesquite
• Scientific Name: Prosopis glandulosa (pro-SO-pis glan-du-LOW-suh
• Family: Fabaceae (Pea Family)
• Geographic Range: Kansas and Oklahoma south to Nuevo León and San Luis Potosí; southeastern Texas west to California.
• Description: Deciduous shrub or tree.
• Remarks: Forms a shrub in much of the desert region, varying in height from less than 1 foot to 10 or more feet. In unstable sandy areas, often forms mesquite hummocks: blowing sand collects around the base of the shrub, burying the lower portions. As long as the upper portions grow more rapidly than the sand accumlates, the plant is able to survive, though on an increasingly high mound (the hammock) of sand.
• Ethnobotany: Ethnobotanical comments by Jane SpottedBird. To return to this page, use the back button on your browser.

Last Update: 5 Jun 2006