MESQUITE 



(Prosopis Juliflora) 



THERE are known to be sixteen species at least of mesquite in the 

 world, in Asia, Africa, and North and South America. The one 

 here considered has a geographical range of at least seven thousand 

 miles north and south, from Kansas to Patagonia, and an east and west 

 range of four thousand miles, if the naturalized growth in Hawaii may 

 be considered the western outpost of the species.* 



The generic name prosopis is a Greek word meaning "burdock;" 

 the rest of the botanical name is Latin, meaning ' 'July flower. ' ' Mesquite 

 is an Aztec word (mezquitl), coming down through the Spanish. Other 

 names for the tree are algaroba, honey locust, honey pod, and ironwood. 



The largest size of mesquite is found along the Rio Grande in 

 southern Texas where trees three feet in diameter and fifty feet high are 

 found, but individuals of that size are rare. The species is supposed not 

 to extend west of New Mexico, but varieties grow farther west. 



The leaves are compound, with twenty or more leaflets. The 

 foliage is thin and casts a penumbrous shadow; trees generally occur 

 wide apart, and there is enough sunshine reaching the ground to satisfy 

 grass and other plants growing there. The pods are from four to nine 

 inches long, and each contains from ten to twenty seeds. The principal 

 growth of this tree in the United States is in Texas. It has been 

 planted in Hawaii and has run wild in some of the islands of the group. 

 It is of slow growth, but of remarkable vitality, holds its own, and gains 

 ground in the face of obstacles. 



Persons well acquainted with conditions in Texas, both past and 

 present, say that the mesquite area is at least double now what it was 

 when the state came into the Union. Old stands were scattered here 

 and there, but hundreds of square miles which were in grass only, and 

 little of that, half a century ago, now support forests of mesquite. It is 

 perhaps a misnomer to designate some of these stands as forests, for 

 they present a rather ragged and sorry appearance, but they are forests 

 hi the process of forming. The old growth, which is found principally 

 in the counties bordering on the lower Rio Grande, is made up of 

 trunks of large size, but the stands that have come on within the past 

 fifty or sixty years are of smaller trees. A large mesquite trunk is from 



*Botanists have had much controversy among themselves concerning mes- 

 quite, particularly as to what is its correct name. In giving in these pages some of 

 the important facts concerning this interesting tree, or group of species and varieties, 

 it is not necessary to touch the points in dispute. 



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