THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
` 
Vou. XVuUL—MAY, 1884.—No. 5. 
THE MEZOQUIT? 
BY DR. V. HAVARD, U.S. A. 
Vame.—This tree, the most notable feature of our Southwestern 
sylva, belongs to the large order of Leguminose, suborder Mi- 
moseæ, It was first described by De Candolle under the name 
of Prosopis juliflora, which, therefore, has precedence. Prosopis, 
applied by Linnzus, is meaningless; the specific name (julus, 
à catkin) refers to the catkin-like spikes of the inflorescence. It 
's the Algarobia glandulosa of Torrey and Gray’s Flora (from Al- 
garoba, Mexican synonym of mezquit, the specific name referring 
to the stalked glands borne on the anthers), later changed into 
Prosopis glandulosa by Dr. Torrey, in the Flora of the Mexican 
dar Survey. 
ehe mezquit finds a congenial home through Mexico, 
= Papas to Chili and Brazil in South America. It flourishes 
Texas i thwestern, territory of the United States, specially in 
tük Yew Mexico, and Arizona, being by far the most common 
aaa of the immense desert tracts drained by the Rio 
» Gila, and Lower Colorado. It does not grow near the sea- 
wy cept at the mouth of the Rio Grande, If, from this 
; fear Proceed northward, we find that the mezquit disappears 
- ing at as and recedes inland twenty or thirty miles, remain- 
. bus; “agy distance from the sea up to Victoria and Colum- 
ig sie as line of its eastern limit runs directly north, pass- 
AN Out of Dallas; bending slightly westward, it then 
, with Magan misspelt and mispronounced, is, in its Mexican form, mezquite, 
De Rio Grande ine Penult, and the last syllable obscurely sounded. North of 
he its, Americanized form, it drops the final e, but otherwise retains 
accent and pronunciation, thus, mezkeet’. 
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