Prosopis JULIFLORA - Prosopis juliflora, Mesquite.
Can be grown in bonsai style!
Prosopis is a genus of woody plants in the legume family (Fabaceae). Deciduous trees or shrubs, often thorny, rarely leafless. Buds are small, obtuse, scales acute, dark brown, terminal buds are absent. Leaves are alternate, bipinnate, the leaf rachis terminates in a spine. Stipules are linear, deciduous, membranous, or transformed into spines.
Flowers are small, actinomorphic, pale yellow or greenish-white, 5-merous, gathered in axillary racemes, spike-like inflorescences, rarely in heads. Calyx is campanulate, deciduous, with 5 teeth or small lobes. Corolla of 5 petals, fused to the middle or free. Stamens 10, free, anthers oblong. Ovary hairy, stipitate, style filiform, stigma small.
Fruit is a linear, cylindrical, or irregularly thickened-turgid, straight, falcately curved, twisted, or almost regularly spirally coiled, indehiscent legume (pod); the outer layer of the pericarp is thin, woody, the inner layer is thick, fleshy, and sweet. Seeds are light brown or reddish-brown, oblong or ovate, compressed, with an aril at the base.
Prosopis juliflora is a small tree growing up to 12 m (39 ft) or a shrub in more arid regions. It grows in the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and many regions of South America. It is a source of very hard wood, gum, and tannin. The roots are used as fuel. Honey plant. Sweet farinaceous fruits (pods) are valued as fodder, and Indigenous peoples eat them directly.