Nature's Neighbors ~ Honey Mesquite

Honey Mesquite is a common shrub/ small tree of the Southwest. Some specimens can grow to larger size, especially if growing in moist bottomlands.  Like many other members of the legume family, mesquite beneficially restores nitrogen to the soil.

Mesquites are deciduous and have characteristic bean pods which have long been used by humans, wildlife and livestock as a food source. It is estimated that over 75% of a Coyote's diet in late summer is mesquite beans. It is an extremely hardy, drought-tolerant plant because it can draw moisture from the water table through its long taproot, one of which was found in an underground copper mine 190 feet below ground!  It can also use water in the upper part of the ground through it’s shallow subsurface roots, depending upon availability. The tree can easily and rapidly switch from using one water source to the other. 

small specimen in arid cimate

Cattlemen regard mesquite as range weeds and eradicate them. But much of the invasion of mesquite into former grasslands where it did not grow a century ago, is ironically, due to the overgrazing of domestic cattle.  By contrast, this versatile tree has long been a welcome presence in the larders, livestock feed bins, workshops, gardens and medicine cabinets of many desert residents. 

During the inevitable droughts and deprivations of desert frontier days, the mesquite trees served up the primary food source for caravans and settlers.  During the Civil War, when groceries often ran short, mesquite beans served as passable coffee. The beans were also durable enough for years of storage and became the livestock feed of choice when pastureland grasses failed due to drought or overgrazing.  Native Americans relied on the mesquite pod as a dietary staple from which they made tea, syrup and a ground meal called pinole. They also used the bark for basketry, fabrics and medicine. Mesquite blooms, pollinated by bees, yield a very tasty honey (hence the name Honey Mesquite) and feed adult butterflies.  The leaves serve as food for butterfly larvae.

large tree near a waterway

Although often crooked in shape, mesquite tree branches, stable and durable, filled needs for wood during the construction of Spanish missions, colonial haciendas, ranch houses and fencing.  Artisans use it in the crafting of furniture, flooring, paneling and sculptures, and in some areas mesquites provide a bountiful harvest of wood for use in fireplaces and barbecue grills.

So weather you see them as an uninvited interloper or welcome neighbor, the mesquites have proven that they belong in the Southwest.