ABSTRACT
Honey mesquite is found from southern California east to southern Kansas and Louisiana, and south to northern Mexico. Screwbean mesquite is found from western Texas to southern Nevada, and in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, southern California, and northern Mexico. Velvet mesquite is distributed primarily in northern Mexico, and also occurs in the southwestern United States, mostly in Arizona. Mesquite drains soil of its water, and from an agricultural point of view represents competition for more desired rangeland and cultivated plants. Mesquite was introduced and escaped from cultivation in Australia, the Philippines. Sudan, and Hawaii, and has become a damaging weed in these countries. Mesquite is the most common shrub or small tree of the American southwestern desert region, occupying 30 million ha (74 million acres) in the United States. Mesquite pods are among the earliest known foods of prehistoric mankind in the New World, fossils indicating that the pods were eaten more than 8000 years ago.
