Hardiness zones:
Sunset 12-13
USDA 7-11
Landscape Use: Sprawling and ranging xeric tree, summer shade tree for dry landscapes, restoration projects, dry riparian areas, not a lawn or street tree.
Form & Character: Winter deciduous tree, broadly assymetrical with a twisting and contorted brach topology, picturesque with age.
Growth Habit: Irregular and spreading to 30' in height with a greater spread.
Foliage/texture: Long bi-pinnately compound leaves with a pair of rachis to 8" long. Leaflets range from 1" to 2" long, dangerous pronounced white stipular thorns to 3" long are variably present; medium texture.
Flowers & fruits: Flowers are greenish yellow catkins in April; fruit are a brownish pod that ripens and dehisces in August.
Seasonal color: None
Temperature: Highly tolerant of desert heat. Injured by temperatures below 20oF.
Light: Full sun
Soil: tolerant
Watering: None to occasional summer irrigations to encourage vigor only if needed. DO NOT irrigate regularly as this will cause the tree to grow structurally weak wood.
Pruning: Prune rigorously when young to train into development of a stron amd limited schaffold branch system, otherwise when mature prune to elevate canopy base and remove occasional suckers and water sprouts.
Propagation: Seed - 95% sulfuric acid scarification soak for 30 minutes followed by a 30 minutes rinse under running tepid water. Germination will occur within 6 to 36 hours at 75o to 85oF.
Disease and pests: None
Additional comments: The recent rash of landscape architects specifying honey mesquites in Phoenix landscapes may be a backlash to the popularity of Southern American mesquites in the 1990s. Fruit pods are very sweet and are used to make indigenious flour for breads and pastries. 'Fort Stockton' is a named cultivar collected from west Texas.
