Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Prosopis juliflora - Honey Mesquite

Edible portion: Seeds, Leaves, Fruit, Flowers, Flowers - tea, Gum, Vegetable

A small tree up to 15- 20 m tall with long cracks in the bark. It is often a smaller tree about 3-5 m high. It is spiny and deciduous. Some kinds have thorns 5 cm long. The young branches are smooth and green. The bark is thick and rough greygreen. The leaves are twice divided. The leaflets are oblong and narrow. They are 1.5 cm long. There is no leaflet at the end. The flowers are golden yellow and crowded into dense spikes. These are 5-10 cm long and have a smell. The fruit is a yellow pod 10-20 cm long. The pod is brittle. It has brown seeds embedded in a whitish pulp. There are 10-20 seeds inside. It is a legume.

A tropical plant. It grows well in arid regions. It can grow on poor, sandy or rocky soil and can grow on salty soils. It grows in the Sahel. It has been introduced and is grown in some coastal areas of Papua New Guinea. It has also become self sown. It grows in areas with an annual rainfall between 150-750 mm. It grows between 600-2,400 m above sea level. It is wind resistant. It can grow in arid places.