190 PEAOXICAL F0B3STRT. 



eral seeds. About a dozen species mhabit South America, and 

 northward to Mexico, two only extending into the United 

 States. 



Prosapis jnliflora^ DC. — Honey Mesquit, Algaroba. — Leaves 

 composed of from six to thirty pairs of short oblong, or linear 

 leaflets, a half inch to an inch and a half long. Flowers very 

 minute, greenish-yeUow, in cylindrical spikes. Pods six inches 

 or more in length, straight, or somewhat curved, contracted 

 between the seeds. These pods, at certain stages of ripeness, 

 are pulpy, and the pulp is quite sweet and sugary. Branches 

 and twigs armed with short, strong spines. In figure 45, is 

 shown a branch of Mesquit with leaves, flowers, and a pod, of 

 nearly natural size. The Mexicans and Indians make lise of 

 the bean, out of which they form a kind of meal called pinole, 

 and although of a sweet, nauseous taste to the civilized palate, 

 it is considered wholesome. These beans are also fed to horses, 

 cattle, and they are quite a luxury to the Donkey or Mexican 

 Burro. The tree exudes a clear gum, very much like G-um Ara- 

 bic, for which it may some day become a substitute, at least 

 for many purposes. The Mesquit is a smaU tree, seldom grow- 

 ing more than thirty feet high, and more often it is a straggling 

 shrub. Sap-wood yellowish, heart-wood reddish-brown', very 

 hard and durable, making a most excellent fuel, and for this 

 purpose superior to the best hickory, and has long been em- 

 ployed in smelting furnaces in Mexico and Arizona. It is 

 found on the plains of Western Texas, New Mexico, Southern 

 Colorado, Southern California, and southward through Mexico. 



P. irabesccnS) Bsnth. — ^Tomilla, Screw-pod Mesquit. — Leaflets 

 in five to eight pairs, oblong, very short. Flower spikes one to 

 two inches long. Pod thick, spirally twisted, with numerous 

 turns, forming a narrow, straight cylinder one to two inches 

 long, pulpy within. The pods of this species are also ground 

 into meal by the Indians, and fed green or when nearly ripe to 

 their ponies. A shi-ub or small tree, twenty to thu-ty feet high. 

 Wood similar to the last. In San Diego, California, near Fort 

 Mohavo, and east to New Mexico, and southward through 

 Mexico. 



PEUNtrs, Tour. — Plum and Cherry. 



An extensive genus of about eighty species, distributed over 

 the northern hemisphere, mainly in temperate climates. The 

 genus includes many of our best known, and best cultivated 



