Prosopis glandulosa Torr.

Honey mesquite (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Fabales > Fabaceae > Prosopis

Characteristics

A large spiny shrub. It grows 6-9 m high and spreads 8 m wide. It loses its leaves during the year. The trunk can be 30 cm across. The stems are spiny. The leaves are twice divided. They are 7.5-20 cm long. There are a pair of side axes each with 7-17 pairs of stalkless leaflets. These are 1-3.2 cm long. They are yellow-green and narrowly oblong. The flowers are yellow and fluffy. The flowers are 6 mm long and in clusters 5-7.5 cm long. They are rich in nectar. The fruit are pale yellow narrow pods. They are 9-20 cm long and 10 mm wide. These narrow pods end on a long narrow point. They are slightly flattened and have a wavy edge between the seeds. The pulp is sweet. There are 12-20 seeds.
More
Tree or shrub to 10 m tall; branchlets glabrous; spines solitary, 20–60 mm long. Leaves deciduous, green, glabrous; petiole 30–85 mm long; pinnae 1-(2)-jugate, 7.5–18 cm long; leaflets 8–16-jugate, narrowly oblong, acute, mucronate, relatively rigid, coriaceous, lying flat when dry, (15–) 25–45 (–50) mm long, (2–) 2.5–4.5 (–5) mm wide, 7–13 (–15) times as long as wide; internodes of the pinnae axes (5–) 8–14 mm long. Racemes 7–8 cm long, mostly longer than the leaves. Calyx ciliolate. Pod straight or slightly curved, margins regularly constricted between the seeds, 8–19 cm long, 8–10 mm wide, straw-coloured with reddish purple markings or almost entirely reddish purple, glabrous.
Shrub or tree to 10 m high armed at the nodes with paired or solitary straight spines 0.5-3 cm long. Leaves bipinnate; with 1-2 pinnae pairs; leaflets 7-22 pairs per pinna, 1-6 cm long, 1-4 mm wide, widely spaced on the rhachilla, the intervals wider than the width of the leaflets, venation fairly conspicuous, glabrous. Inflorescence an axillary spike; flowers sessile, yellow. Ovary densely pilose. Pod straight or almost so, 10-22 cm long, ±8 mm in diameter, margins not or scarcely constricted, valves becoming woody, with a fibrous exocarp, beaked apically.
Glabrous shrub or tree, up to 10 m tall, with straight spines in pairs or solitary at nodes. Leaves twice pinnate, with 1 or 2 pairs of pinnae, leaflets 10-25 mm long, widely spaced, glabrous. Flowers in axillary spikes, yellow. Pod ± straight, becoming woody, yellowish to purplish, margins slightly constricted between seeds.
Multistemmed, armed shrub or small tree to 10 m, glabrous; spines paired. Leaves bipinnate. Flowers in cylindrical spikes, yellow. Pods slender, ± straight, woody, yellowish to purplish, constricted between seeds, indehiscent.
See Prosopis glandulosa Torr. var. glandulosa
Life form perennial
Growth form tree
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination entomogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) 5.0
Mature height (meter) 7.0 - 9.5
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) 2.05
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

It is a warm temperate plant. It grows on sandy plains and sandhills. It can grow in desert grassland. It can grow on slightly salty soils. In the SE region of the USA it grows to 1700 m altitude. It can grow in arid places. It suits hardiness zones 8-11.
More
Plains and dry ranges, growing in dense thickets near desert washes but also found at the base of sand dunes and other areas where the water table is close to the surface; at elevations up to 1,800 metres.
Plains and dry ranges, growing in dense thickets near desert washes but also found at the base of sand dunes and other areas where the water table is close to the surface; at elevations up to 1,800 metres.
Light 6-8
Soil humidity 2-5
Soil texture 1-6
Soil acidity 5-8
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 8-12

Usage

The seeds and pods have been used to prepare meal and cakes. The green pods contain a sweet pulp and can be cooked and eaten or made into jelly. The dried pods are ground into meal and used in breads, cakes, muffins and pancakes. The plant is the source of a gum. The nectar of the flower can be sucked.
Uses animal food bee plant beverage charcoal drinks environmental use fiber fixation of sand dunes fodder food forage fuel gene source gum human nutrition invertebrate food material medicinal poison reforestation social use spice tanning timber vertebrate poison weed wood
Edible barks flowers fruits nectars pods roots seeds
Therapeutic use Pediatric Aid (bark), Urinary Aid (bark), Laxatives (bark), Eye Medicine (leaf), Gastrointestinal Aid (leaf), Emetics (leaf), Eye drops (plant exudate), Eye Medicine (pod)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants are grown from seeds.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment soaking
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) 18 - 28
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Leaf

Prosopis glandulosa leaf picture by Corazon (cc-by-sa)
Prosopis glandulosa leaf picture by Bre Bitz (cc-by-sa)
Prosopis glandulosa leaf picture by Helene Payton (cc-by-sa)

Flower

Prosopis glandulosa flower picture by Bre Bitz (cc-by-sa)
Prosopis glandulosa flower picture by Martin Bishop (cc-by-sa)

Fruit

Prosopis glandulosa fruit picture by Agustín Gonzalez (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Prosopis glandulosa world distribution map, present in United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahrain, Bahamas, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Barbados, Botswana, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Indonesia, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Jamaica, Kenya, Kuwait, Libya, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Mexico, Mali, Myanmar, Mauritania, Montserrat, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Netherlands, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico, Réunion, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Singapore, El Salvador, Somalia, Taiwan, Province of China, Tanzania, United Republic of, Uganda, United States of America, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, Yemen, and South Africa

Conservation status

Prosopis glandulosa threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:210440-2
WFO ID wfo-0000169068
COL ID 789K8
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Algarobia glandulosa Neltuma constricta Neltuma glandulosa Neltuma neomexicana Algarobia glandulosa Prosopis juliflora var. glandulosa Prosopis juliflora var. constricta Prosopis chilensis var. glandulosa Prosopis glandulosa var. glandulosa Prosopis glandulosa

Lower taxons

Prosopis glandulosa var. torreyana