Plant of the Week - Velvet Mesquite

Prosopis velutina, commonly known as velvet mesquite, is a small to medium-sized perennial tree. It is a legume adapted to a dry, desert climate. Though considered to be a noxious weed in states outside its natural range, it plays a vital role in the ecology of the Sonoran Desert.

Velvet mesquite is native to the Sonoran, Mojave, and Chihuahuan Deserts. It grows at elevations below 4,000 to 5,000 feet in desert grasslands and near washes. The main distribution is in central and southern Arizona and in adjacent Sonora, Mexico. Near waterways, mesquites can form deciduous woodlands called bosques.

Description

Velvet mesquite can grow to 30–50 feet tall or more. It grows larger in areas with ample water, smaller in open, dry grasslands. The youngest branches may be green and photosynthetic. Young bark is reddish-brown and smooth. As it matures, it becomes a dark, dusty gray or brown and takes on a shredded texture. Yellow thorns up to one inch long appear on the young branches. The leaves are about 3-6 inches long, fine, and bipinnately compound. They fold closed at night.

The taproot sinks deep into the earth, far deeper than the height of the tree, taking advantage of water sources inaccessible to most plants. Roots extend to about 50 feet, but depths as much as 175 feet have been recorded.

The mesquite is deciduous, losing its leaves in winter, and leafs out again in the spring when all danger of frost is past. Because of its deep root system, it keeps its leaves in the dry months of summer in all but the most severe drought years. The flowers are yellow and form in the spring (after the leaves) in dense cylindrical clusters (catkins) roughly 4 inches long. Long seedpods (legumes) form from the flowers. 

They are bright green and look somewhat like pea pods when young. Mature, dry pods are hard and contain several hard, dry, brown seeds. The seeds need to be scarified before they can germinate. This scarification typically takes place in the digestive tracts of animals, which eat the seeds and then disperse them widely, as the seed takes days to pass through the animal.

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