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habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

base of trunk (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

older branches, leaves and flower buds (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

younger branches with large paired thorns (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

twice-compound leaves with two pairs of branchlets (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of leaf with numerous small, elongated leaflets (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of leaf undersides (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

elongated flower clusters borne in the leaf forks (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of young flower cluster (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of flowers and older spines (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

Prosopis velutina

Scientific Name

Prosopis velutina Wooton

Synonyms

Neltuma velutina (Wooton) Britton & Rose
Prosopis chilensis (Molina) Stuntz var. velutina (Wooton) Standl.
Prosopis flexuosa DC. (misapplied)
Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC. (misapplied)
Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC.var. velutina (Wooton) Sarg.

Family

Fabaceae: sub-family Mimosoideae (New South Wales)
Leguminosae (South Australia)
Mimosaceae (Queensland, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory)

Common Names

black mesquite, mesquite, Quilpie mesquite, velvet mesquite

Origin

Native to south-western USA (i.e. New Mexico and Arizona) and northern Mexico.

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised in eastern and central Australia. It is most common and widespread in southern and western Queensland and the inland regions of New South Wales. Smaller populations are also known from the southern parts of the Northern Territory (i.e. near Alice Springs) and northern Victoria (i.e. near Swan Hill).

Also naturalised overseas in southern Africa and beyond its native range in the USA (i.e. in California).

Notes

Velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina) is regarded as an environmental weed in Queensland, and as a potential environmental weed or "sleper weed" in many other parts of Australia. The mesquites (Prosopis spp.), as a group, are also one of the 20 Weeds of National Significance (WoNS) in Australia.

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