Honey Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) Gardening
Honey Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) is a legume-bearing flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to the Southwestern United States and Mexico. It is an invasive species, and is considered as one of the world's 100 worst invasive species outside of its native habitat range. Honey mesquite can be found growing in the deserts, plains and stream banks.
Honey mesquite, 6-9 m tall and spread, is a medium-growth shrub or small tree. The trunk can be up to 30 cm in diameter, with smooth, brown bark that roughen with age. It has drooping branches and feathery foliage. The twigs have sharp thorns, 5 cm long, especially on young plants. The narrow, bipinnately compound leaves are yellowish- green, 5-8 cm long and are sharply pointed. The 7-18 sets of oblong leaflets are 0.3 cm wide and 3.2 cm long.
The fragrant, creamy yellow flowers, 0.6 cm long, are produced in narrow dense 7.5 cm clusters in May. The fruit is a 20 cm long, yellowish-green bean-like pod, somewhat flattened with slight constriction between the seeds. Livestock graze on the sweet pod and help disseminated the seeds.
Propagation is by seeds, root division or young wood cuttings.
Leaves and seed pods of Honey Mesquite
Author: Don A.W. Carlson (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
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