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habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
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)
Scientific Name
Prosopis velutina Wooton
Synonyms
Neltuma velutina (Wooton) Britton & RoseProsopis 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.