''Prosopis kuntzei'' (synonym ''Prosopis casadensis'') is a

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

leguminous A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock for ...

tree species that inhabits the westernmost

Gran Chaco The Gran Chaco or Dry Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Gro ...

forests covering areas of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, where it acts as natural component. It has also been able to colonize the nearby pasture sabanas. It is commonly referred to as itín, palo mataco, carandá or barba de tigre. It is adapted to

arid climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

, but can also survive flooded ground for a long time.

Morphology

It is a smooth horrid tree, 4 to 10 meters high. Its trunk measures 40 to 60 cm in diameter and is highly branched and rigid, presenting uncountable spines. Leaves are small (3–5 mm long),

bipinnate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

, tending to fall very early in spring after young sprouts become spines themselves.

Inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

consists of lonely appearing

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s 3–7 cm long. Flowers are white-yellowish, scented, and 3 mm long. The fruit is a

dehiscent Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part; structures that op ...

dark violet pod, 10–17 cm long, straight shaped and heavily scented. It contains a starchy paste inside. Seeds are flat, egg-shaped of chestnut colour. They measure 7-1 0 mm long and 5–6 mm wide. Wide new sprouts come out between July and November. This tree flowers between September and November and fructifies between December and January, holding its fruits until early August. The sapwood is light yellow, while the heartwood is chestnut brown with patches of dark violet. The wood has a fine texture and straight to wavy to interlocked grain. When first chopped it is very scented. This species wood is one of the densest and notably most durable of the genus.Legname, P. 1982. “Arboles indígenas del NW Argentino”. Opera Lilloana XXXIV. Tucumán, Argentina

Usage

Because of its technological wood properties, ''Prosopis kuntzei'' is considered an important

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

species. However timber is available in small sizes and limited amounts, therefore it is used rather locally to manufacture crafts like statues, handles, wooden wheel parts, musical instruments and staffs. Due to its almost black colour, and remarkable hardness, it can be used as substitute of

ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus ''Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when pol ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2838231 kuntzei Plants described in 1898 Trees of Bolivia Trees of Paraguay Trees of Argentina Drought-tolerant trees Least concern plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot