532 



Screw Pod Mesquite 



on slender leaf-stalks i to 2 cm. long, with a gland at the base of the pinnae, which 

 are 3.5 to 5 cm. long, short-stalked, and bear 5 to 8 pairs of leaflets; these are ob- 

 long, I to 2 cm. long, sharp-pointed, sessile or nearly so, finely hairy and promi- 

 nently netted-veined. The flowers, appearing in April and continuing into the 

 summer, are greenish white, in slender, stalked, axillary spikes 5 to 8 cm. long; 

 the calyx is sessile, bell-shaped, slightly 5-lobed, hairy on the outside, one fourth 

 to one third the length of the 5 lanceolate petals, which are pale- woolly on the inner 



Fig. 492. — Screw Pod Mesquite. 



surface; stamens 10, free and Uttle exserted, about 4 mm. long; ovary stalked and 

 hairy. The pods are borne in dense elongated clusters; they are sessile, tightly 

 twisted, spiral cyhnders 3 to 5 cm. long, about 8 mm. in diameter, pale yellow 

 and woody without, pulpy within; seeds obovate, 1.5 to 2 mm. long, hard, pale 

 brown, with homy endosperm. 



The wood is very hard, brittle, close-grained, light brown; its specific gravity 

 is about 0.76. It is sometimes used for fencing and often for fuel. The pods are 

 edible and used for fodder in the absence of the more desirable Mesquite. The 

 generic name is Greek, in reference to the coiled pod. There are about 6 species, 

 of which one other, a shrub, occurs in Texas. 



