Botany: fragrant.
Prosopis velutinaEnglish: Velvet mesquite.
Region: central and southern Arizona; Sonoran, Mojave, Chihuahuan Deserts.
Habitat: dry, desert climate; elevations below 2000 m; grasslands and near washes, waterways; form deciduous woodlands called bosques; areas with ample water, smaller in open, dry grasslands.
Content: galactomannin gums, glycemic index is 25%, compared to 60% for sweet corn, and 100% for white sugar.
Culture: invasive, noxious weed.
Use: seeds for food, flour, cakes, breads, muffins, pancakes; bark for baskets, fabrics; wood for firewood and building; leaves and gum as medicine; ornamental.
BotanySmall to medium-sized, deciduous, perennial tree; 9 to 15 m tall or more; youngest branches may be green and photosynthetic.
Stem: young bark is reddish-brown and smooth, dark, dusty gray or brown and shredded texture when mature; yellow thorns up to one inch long appear on the young branches.
Root: taproot; sinks deep into the earth, 15 to 53 m.
Leaves: about 7 to 15 cm long, fine, and bipinnately compound; folding closed at night.
Inflorescence: dense cylindrical clusters, catkins; 10 cm long.
Flowers: yellow; blooming in spring.
Fruit: long seedpods; bright green; like pea pods when young; dry, hard when mature.
Seeds: several hard, dry, brown; need to be scarified before they can germinate, in the digestive tracts of animals.
Dispersion: by animals.