Mesquite

views updated May 17 2018

MESQUITE

MESQUITE, a spiny shrub or small tree characteristic of the American Southwest. Its astounding root system enables it to withstand the severest droughts and produce beans, which horses thrive on, cattle can exist on, and of which Indians and Mexicans make brew and bread. During the days of the open range, its leaves served as browse, its trunks as fence posts, and its limbs and roots as an aromatic fuel. Although mesquite is an attractive ornamental shrub and fixes nitrogen in the soil, it can also crowd out other vegetation, so many in the American Southwest now attempt to check its spread.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sowell, John. Desert Ecology: An Introduction to Life in the Arid Southwest. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2001.

J. FrankDobie/a. e.

See alsoMohave ; Tribes: Southwestern .

mesquite

views updated May 17 2018

mes·quite / meˈskēt/ • n. a spiny tree or shrub of the pea family, native to arid regions of southwestern U.S. and Mexico. It yields useful timber, tanbark, medicinal products, and edible pods.The timber is used for fencing and flooring, and burned in barbecues as flavoring. • Genus Prosopis, family Leguminosae: several species, in particular P. glandulosa.

Mesquite

views updated May 18 2018

Mes·quite / məˈskēt/ a city in northeastern Texas, east of Dallas; pop. 101,484.