108 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. LEGUMINOS&. 
The wood of Prosopis pubescens is heavy, and exceedingly hard and close-grained, but brittle 
and not very strong. It contains numerous thin medullary rays and many evenly distributed open 
ducts, and is light brown with thin lighter colored sapwood composed of six or seven layers of annual 
growth. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.7609, a cubic foot weighing 47.42 pounds. 
It is somewhat employed for fencing, and makes excellent fuel. The pods are used for fodder, and are 
sweet and nutritious, although their small size and the hardness of the seeds make them less valuable 
than those of the Mesquite.’ 
Prosopis pubescens” was discovered by Frémont in the Mohave Desert in 1843, during his second 
transcontinental journey. 
1 Havard, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. viii. 499. 2 Prosopis pubescens is called Tornillo by the Mexicans. 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 
Pirate CXXXVIII. Prosopis PUBESCENS. 
. A flowering branch, natural size. 
. A flower, enlarged. 
. Vertical section of a flower, enlarged. 
. A stamen, enlarged. 
. A fruiting branch, natural size. 
Vertical section of a portion of a legume, enlarged. 
. Vertical section of a seed, enlarged. 
. A seed, enlarged. 
CONA TR OD 
. Vertical section of a seed, enlarged. 
. An embryo, magnified. 
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