Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC.
غوفي، الغاف البحري ( المسكيت)
For people
- Eaten by people
- Edible
- Toxic to people
- Unknown
For livestock
- Grazed by livestock
- Limited fodder
- Toxic to livestock
- Toxic
Edibility and safety notes
Only the ripe, sweet pods are a traditional human food in the Americas: chewed raw, boiled, or dried and ground into flour or made into drinks; the hard seeds are not eaten whole. It is not a customary food in Oman, and the long sharp thorns cause painful wounds. Livestock relish the pods, but the leaves are unpalatable. The pods contain neurotoxic alkaloids: cattle, goats and sheep fed mainly on pods for long periods develop jaw tremors, difficulty chewing, wasting and death, so pods should be only a limited part of the diet.
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Description
A thorny evergreen leguminous tree growing up to 10-15 m tall. Fragrant golden-yellow flowers in dense spikes 5-10 cm long. Fruit is a cylindrical pod 10-20 cm long, green turning yellow when ripe, sweet tasting, containing 10-20 hard seeds. Deep taproot system reaching up to 35 m depth.
Habitat
Wadis, plains, abandoned farms, roadsides and other disturbed ground in hot lowlands; grows on sandy, rocky, poor and saline soils and is extremely drought tolerant thanks to its deep roots.
Distribution
Native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. Widely introduced and naturalised in Africa, Arabia, the Indian subcontinent and Australia, where it is often invasive. Introduced to Oman in the 1970s for landscaping, roadside planting and combating desertification, and now widespread there.
Pastoral value
Livestock eagerly eat the sweet pods, but the leaves are unpalatable and browsed mainly in drought. Pods contain alkaloids that poison cattle, goats and sheep when they form most of the diet for long periods, so they should be only a limited part of the ration. The tree is invasive and a problem in farmland and moist sites.
Other uses
Planted as a windbreak, for shade and as a roadside and garden ornamental; also used for dune stabilisation, fuelwood and charcoal. In its native range the ripe pods are eaten raw, boiled or ground into flour and made into drinks. Invasive and difficult to control in arid regions.
Sources
- الدليل الحقلي المصور للنباتات البرية في سلطنة عُمان (BOOK.pdf p.118)
- Feedipedia — Mesquite (Prosopis juliflora) — feedipedia.org
- Useful Tropical Plants — Prosopis juliflora — tropical.theferns.info
- Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira 2009 — Spontaneous poisoning in cattle by mesquite beans, Prosopis juliflora — doaj.org
- Plants of the World Online — Neltuma juliflora (Sw.) Raf. — powo.science.kew.org
- Wikipedia — Prosopis juliflora (Neltuma juliflora) — en.wikipedia.org
- Oman Observer — Invasive mesquite — omanobserver.om
- Plants For A Future - Prosopis juliflora — pfaf.org
From the same family
All in this family
Fabaceae
Salam tree, Desert acacia
Acacia ehrenbergiana Hayne.
Fabaceae
Red thorn, Grey-haired acacia, Talh
Acacia gerrardii Benth.
Fabaceae
Gum arabic tree, Babul, Thorn mimosa, Egyptian acacia, Thorny acacia
Acacia nilotica (L.) Del.
Fabaceae
Gum acacia, Gum arabic tree, Sudan gum
Acacia senegal (L.) Willd.