Honey mesquite is known also as honeypocl, prairie mesquite, or 

 mesquite. When the Spanish conquistadores arrived in Mexico and 

 the Southwest they called the mesquite "algaroba'', as it reminded 

 them of the closely related carob tree, algaroba or St. Johnsbread 

 (Ceratonia siliqua), of their native land. The name algaroba is often 

 used for mesquite in this country, and is universal in Hawaii, but is a 

 misapplication of a Spanish-Arabic plant name. Honey mesquite 

 is typically a shrub, 5 to 10 feet high, growing in many-stemmed 

 clumps, 3 to 50 feet in diameter. Frequently it develops into a small 

 tree 15 to 20 feet tall but, in some habitats, it may grow only 1 or 

 2 feet above ground. 



This species occurs from eastern Texas and southern Kansas to 

 southern and Lower California and south into Mexico. It inhabits 

 dry, sandy, or gravelly plains, mesas, canyons, and hillsides at eleva- 

 tions between about 2,500 and 5,000 feet. It is very characteristic 

 of sandhills and, over extensive areas, often dominates the land- 

 scape either in almost pure stands or in intermixed growth with 

 soaptree yucca (Yucca elata), its very common companion. 



Honey mesquite provides valuable forage chiefly in its seedpods, 

 which are sweet, rich in protein, 1 and very nutritious. The pods 

 usually are fairly abundant, two crops being produced under favor- 

 able conditions. They are relished by cattle, sheep, goats, swine, and 

 especially horses. Deer and other native mammals, as well as some 

 game birds, also seek the pods. However, after lying on the ground 

 during wet periods, the pods soon become sour and unfit for food. 

 Some stockmen claim that horses will occasionally eat these fer- 

 mented pods with undesirable, or even fatal, results. 



The young twigs of honey mesquite become green in the spring 

 before the leaves appear and then are readily grazed by livestock 

 for a short period. The leaves are eaten only slightly when they 

 first appear, and after maturity are usually not cropped except on 

 overgrazed range or during prolonged drought when they are rated 

 as fair emergency forage. 



This plant is exceptionally drought -enduring and also withstands 

 excessive grazing; it is very aggressive and invades grasslands read- 

 ily when the grass cover is broken as a result of overgrazing. 

 Dayton 2 states : 



It is all but impossible to kill honey mesquite and its close relative, Prosopix 

 velutina, by overgrazing. The fact that many of the seeds pass out of the 

 digestive tract undigested and viable accounts largely for the persistent spread 

 of the plant. The plant is also maintained in spite of overgrazing by reason 

 of its phenomenal root development, which perhaps exceeds that of any other 

 observed plant species. The roots, in addition to a considerable lateral spread, 

 have vertical ground penetration that in many instances reaches 30 feet, and 

 has been reported to reach 60 feet below the surface. The fact that the distri- 

 bution of honey mesquite is spreading, owing to its natural aggressive- 

 ness and the fact that it resists prolonged range overgrazing at the expense 

 of its competitors, have caused some writers to deprecate mesquite as forage. 

 This is especially so on the eastern borders of the species' range, where it is 

 taking possession of grasslands. 



1 Forbes, R. H. THE MESQUITE TREE: ITS PRODUCTS AND USES. Ariz. Agr. Expt. Sta. 

 Bull. 13, 26 pp. 1805. 



2 Dayton, W. A. IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS. U. S. Dept. Agr. Misc. Pub. 

 101, 214 pp., illus. 1931. 



