Prosopis pubescens
Screwbean mesquite · also Screwbean, Screw-bean, Mesquite bean
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Screwbean mesquite is a small deciduous desert tree or shrub characterized by its thorny branches and distinctive tightly coiled legumes. It thrives in arid conditions, often found in gravelly washes and desert ravines with saline soils, across the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Its low water needs and tolerance for salt make it suitable for challenging urban desert environments, and it provides value to birds, bees, and butterflies.
Where it grows
Trees in each city's inventory, with the share of that city's named trees this species accounts for.
- 260.10%—10 in
No city in this list records planting dates for this species, so age is blank throughout.
Traits
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Mature height
- 10–30 ft
- Canopy spread
- 20 ft
- Sun
- Full sun
- Soil
- Well-drained, Saline-tolerant
- Water needs
- Low
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Wildlife value
- High
- Tolerates
- salt
- Blooms
- Mar, Apr, May
Trunk diameters across every city: median 10 in, mean 8.7 in, 90th percentile 15 in. Measured at breast height, as published by each inventory.
Native range
Terrestrial ecoregions where this species is native. Trees in the dataset mostly stand well outside it.
Deserts & Xeric Shrublands
- Baja California desert
- Gulf of California xeric scrub
- Sonoran desert
Other Prosopis in the catalogue
7 of the top 2,000 species are in this genus.
