''Prosopis'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the family Fabaceae. It contains around 45 species of spiny

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s and shrubs found in subtropical and

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

regions of the Americas, Africa, Western Asia, and South Asia. They often thrive in

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ...

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt Dirt is an unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include: * Debri ...

and are resistant to

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

, on occasion developing extremely deep

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...

systems. Their

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

is usually hard, dense and durable. Their

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s are pods and may contain large amounts of sugar. The generic name means " burdock" in

late Latin Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in t ...

and originated in the Greek language.

Selected species

Mesquite Mesquite is a common name for several plants in the genus '' Prosopis'', which contains over 40 species of small leguminous trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. They have extremely long roots to seek water from very far under gr ...

s (

southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

) ** ''

Prosopis glandulosa ''Prosopis glandulosa'', commonly known as honey mesquite, is a species of small to medium-sized, thorny shrub or tree in the legume family (Fabaceae). Distribution The plant is primarily native to the Southwestern United States and Northern M ...

'' Torr. – honey mesquite; ''Haas'' ( Cmiique Iitom) ** ''

Prosopis laevigata ''Prosopis laevigata'', commonly known as smooth mesquite, is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, and north-western Argentina ( Jujuy Province). In Mexico, the species is found in th ...

'' ( Humb. & Bonpl. ex

Willd. Carl Ludwig Willdenow (22 August 1765 – 10 July 1812) was a German botanist, pharmacist, and plant taxonomist. He is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants. Willdenow was al ...

) M.C.Johnst. – smooth mesquite ** ''

Prosopis pubescens ''Prosopis pubescens'', commonly known as screwbean mesquite, is a species of flowering shrub or small tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to the southwestern United States (Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, southern Nevad ...

Benth. George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

– screwbean mesquite ** ''

Prosopis reptans ''Prosopis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It contains around 45 species of spiny trees and shrubs found in subtropical and tropical regions of the Americas, Africa, Western Asia, and South Asia. They often thrive in ...

'' Benth. – tornillo ** ''

Prosopis velutina ''Prosopis velutina'', commonly known as velvet mesquite, is a small to medium-sized 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 ...

'' Wooton – velvet mesquite *"Algarrobos", bayahondas etc. (

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

, particularly the

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 ...

) ** '' Prosopis abbreviata'' Benth. – algarrobillo espinoso ** '' Prosopis affinis''

Spreng. Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel (3 August 1766 – 15 March 1833) was a German botanist and physician who published an influential multivolume history of medicine, ''Versuch einer pragmatischen Geschichte der Arzneikunde'' (1792–99 in four vo ...

– nandubay, algarrobillo, espinillo, Ibopé-morotí ** '' Prosopis alba''

Griseb. August Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach () was a German botany, botanist and phytogeography, phytogeographer. He was born in Hannover on 17 April 1814 and died in Göttingen on 9 May 1879. Biography Grisebach studied at the Lyceum in Hanover, the clo ...

– algarrobo blanco; ''ibopé'' or ''igopé'' (

Guaraní Guarani, Guaraní or Guarany may refer to Ethnography * Guaraní people, an indigenous people from South America's interior (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia) * Guaraní language, or Paraguayan Guarani, an official language of Paraguay * ...

) ** ''

Prosopis caldenia ''Prosopis caldenia'', commonly known as the caldén, is a species of Flowering plant, flowering tree in the family Fabaceae, The tree is endemic to subtropical regions of Argentina. It thrives in sandy and arid soil and resists drought, developi ...

'' Burkart – caldén ** ''

Prosopis chilensis ''Prosopis chilensis'' is a species of tree in the genus ''Prosopis'', belonging to the family Fabaceae. It is found in parts of central Chile, southern Peru, Bolivia, and Andean (northwestern) Argentina. Its common names include Chilean mesqui ...

'' ( Molina) Stuntz – algarrobo Chileno, algarrobo blanco ** '' Prosopis fiebrigii'' Harms ** '' Prosopis flexuosa'' DC. – alpataco, algarrobo negro ** '' Prosopis hassleri'' Harms ** ''

Prosopis juliflora ''Prosopis juliflora'' ( es, bayahonda blanca, Cuji Venezuela, Trupillo Colombia, Aippia Wayuunaiki and long-thorn kiawe in Hawaii) is a shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae, a kind of mesquite. It is native to Mexico, South America and th ...

'' ( Sw.) DC. – bayahonda blanca, bayarone Français; ''kabuli kikar, vilayati babul, vilayati khejra'' or ''vilayati kikar'' (

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

); ''trupillo'' or ''turpío'' ( Wayuunaiki) ** ''

Prosopis kuntzei ''Prosopis kuntzei'' (synonym ''Prosopis casadensis'') is a South American legume, leguminous tree species that inhabits the westernmost Gran Chaco forests covering areas of Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay, where it acts as natural component. It ...

'' Harms ex

Kuntze Kuntze is a surname of German origin. People with that name include: * Carl Kuntze (1922-2006), Dutch rower who competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics * Edward J. Kuntze (1826-1870), Prussian-born American sculptor * Otto Kuntze (1843-1907), German ...

– itín, barba de tigre, carandá, palo mataco ** ''

Prosopis nigra ''Prosopis nigra'' (synonym ''Prosopis algarrobilla'') is a South American leguminous tree species that inhabits the Gran Chaco ecoregion (in particular, the transition zone between the Wet Chaco and the Southern Chaco), in Argentina and Paragua ...

'' (Griseb.) Hieron. – algarrobo negro, algarrobo amarillo, algarrobo dulce, algarrobo morado ** ''

Prosopis pallida ''Prosopis pallida'' is a species of mesquite tree. It has the common names kiawe () (in Hawaii), huarango (in its native South America) and American carob, as well as "bayahonda" (a generic term for ''Prosopis''), "algarrobo pálido" (in some pa ...

'' (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.)

Kunth Carl Sigismund Kunth (18 June 1788 – 22 March 1850), also Karl Sigismund Kunth or anglicized as Charles Sigismund Kunth, was a German botanist. He is known for being one of the first to study and categorise plants from the American continents, ...

– American carob, ''huarango, kiawe'' ( Hawaiian) ** '' Prosopis rojasiana'' Burkart ** '' Prosopis ruscifolia'' Griseb. – vinal ** '' Prosopis strombulifera'' ( Lam.) Benth. – creeping mesquite, Argentine screwbean ** ''

Prosopis tamarugo ''Prosopis tamarugo'', commonly known as the tamarugo, is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamilia Mimosoideae. It is only found in northern Chile, particularly in the Pampa del Tamarugal, some east of the city of I ...

'' Phil. – tamarugo *African species ** ''

Prosopis africana ''Prosopis africana'' is a flowering plant species in the genus Fabaceae. It is found in Africa. Its common names include African mesquite, iron tree, ''gele'' (Malinke) (traditional djembe wood) or ''somb'' tree. In the Serer creation myth, i ...

'' (

Guill. Jean Baptiste Antoine Guillemin (20 January 1796 in Pouilly-sur-Saône – 15 January 1842 in Montpellier) was a French botanist. He studied at the municipal college in Seurre, where he was considered one of the most distinguished pupils. U ...

Perr. George Samuel Perrottet (23 February 1790 – 13 January 1870, Pondicherry), also known as Georges Guerrard-Samuel Perrottet, Guerrard Samuel Perrottet, Gustave Samuel Perrotet ic and Samuel Perrottet, was a botanist and horticulturalist from Pr ...

) Taub. – ''gele'' (

Malinke Maninka (also known as Malinke), or more precisely Eastern Maninka, is the name of several closely related languages and dialects of the southeastern Manding subgroup of the Mande language family. It is the mother tongue of the Malinké peop ...

, traditional ''djembe'' wood) *Asian species (

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, mainly

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

, Sri Lanka to the Arabian Peninsula) ** ''

Prosopis cineraria ''Prosopis cineraria'', also known as ghaf, is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. It is native to arid portions of Western Asia and the Indian Subcontinent, including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iran, India, Oman, Pakistan, Sau ...

'' ( L.) Druce – jand; ''ghaf'' (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

); ''sami'' or ''sumri'' (

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

); ''khejri'', ''sangri'' (

Rajasthani Rajasthani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Rajasthan, a state of India * Rajasthani languages, a group of languages spoken there * Rajasthani people, the native inhabitants of the region * Rajasthani architecture * Rajasthani art ...

); ''kandi'' ( Sindhi) ** '' Prosopis farcta'' (

Sol. Daniel Carlsson Solander or Daniel Charles Solander (19 February 1733 – 13 May 1782) was a Swedish naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Solander was the first university-educated scientist to set foot on Australian soil. Biography ...

ex Russell) J.F.Macbr. ** '' Prosopis koelziana'' Burkart (

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

) ** '' Prosopis spicigera'' ( L.)

Formerly placed here

*'' Acacia atramentaria'' Benth. (as ''P. astringens'' Gillies ex Hook. & Arn.) *'' Elephantorrhiza elephantina'' (Burch.) Skeels (as ''P. elephantina'' (Burch.) E.Mey. or ''P. elephantorrhiza'' Spreng.) *'' Prosopidastrum globosum'' (Gillies ex Hook. & Arn.) Burkart (as ''P. globosa'' Gillies ex Hook. & Arn.)

Taxonomic reclassification

Genomic research published in 2022 concludes that species grouped under the genus ''Prosopis'' actually represent multiple genera including '' Anonychium'', '' Neltuma'', ''Prosopis'', and '' Strombocarpa''.

Phytochemistry

''Prosopis'' species have been found to contain

5-hydroxytryptamine Serotonin () or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is a monoamine neurotransmitter. Its biological function is complex and multifaceted, modulating mood, cognition, reward, learning, memory, and numerous physiological processes such as vomiting and vas ...

apigenin Apigenin (4′,5,7-trihydroxyflavone), found in many plants, is a natural product belonging to the flavone class that is the aglycone of several naturally occurring glycosides. It is a yellow crystalline solid that has been used to dye wool. Sou ...

, isorhamnetin-3-diglucoside,

l-arabinose Arabinose is an aldopentose – a monosaccharide containing five carbon atoms, and including an aldehyde (CHO) functional group. For biosynthetic reasons, most saccharides are almost always more abundant in nature as the "D"-form, or structural ...

quercetin Quercetin is a plant flavonol from the flavonoid group of polyphenols. It is found in many fruits, vegetables, leaves, seeds, and grains; capers, red onions, and kale are common foods containing appreciable amounts of it. It has a bitter flavor ...

tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'' ...

, and

tryptamine Tryptamine is an indolamine metabolite of the essential amino acid, tryptophan. The chemical structure is defined by an indole ─ a fused benzene and pyrrole ring, and a 2-aminoethyl group at the second carbon (third aromatic atom, with the f ...

.Medicinal Plants of the Southwest
The tannins present in ''Prosopis'' species are of the pyrogallotannin and pyrocatecollic types. The tannins are mainly found in the bark and wood while their concentration in the pods is low. Some species, such as '' P. africana'' or '' P. velutina'', produce a gum (mesquite gum).

As an introduced and invasive species

The species ''

'' was introduced to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

in 1828 and now dominates many of the drier coastal parts of the islands, where it is called the kiawe tree and is a prime source of

monofloral honey Monofloral honey is a type of honey which has a distinctive flavor or other attribute due to its being predominantly from the nectar of a single plant species. It is stored and labeled separately so as to command a premium price. While there may ...

production. In Australia, invasive ''Prosopis'' species are causing severe economic and environmental damage. With their thorns and many low branches, ''Prosopis'' shrubs form impenetrable thickets which prevent cattle from accessing watering holes, etc. They also take over pastoral grasslands and suck up scarce water. ''Prosopis'' species cause land erosion due to loss of grassland that are habitats for native plants and animals. ''Prosopis'' thickets also provide shelter for feral animals such as pigs and cats. For more information on invasiveness of mesquite species, see ''

'' and ''

''.

Eradication

Eradicating ''Prosopis'' is difficult because the plant's bud regeneration zone can extend down to below ground level;Mesquite Info
/ref>
/ref> the tree can regenerate from a piece of

left in the

. Some herbicides are not effective or only partially effective against mesquite. Spray techniques for removal, while effective against short-term regrowth, are expensive, costing more than $70/acre ($170/hectare) in the USA. Removing large trees requires tracked equipment; costs can approach $2,000 per acre. In Australia, several techniques are used to remove ''Prosopis''.

References

Notes

General references

*Paciecznik, N. M., Harris P. J. C., & S. J. Smith. 2003
Identifying Tropical Prosopis Species: A Field Guide
HDRA, Coventry, UK. .

(FAO Document Repository)

(website of the Vascular Plant Herbarium of the University of Arizona in Tucson)
Plant Walk 2 UofA

External links

* *
U.S. Federal Noxious Weed List (USDA)The Prosopis Website (Has a nice range map)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q133422 Forages Medicinal plants Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Fabaceae genera