Prosopis pubescens Benth.

vernacular screwbean mesquite — species · Fabaceae

USDA: PRPU
GBIF: 5358508
Rank: species

screwbean mesquite (Prosopis pubescens) — Platephotograph · Alan RockefellerCC BY source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Shrub, Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Fabaceae Lindl.
Genus: Prosopis

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 17 counties across 2 states/territories

Legend Native · 17 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Medium
Shade: Medium
Moisture use: Medium
Fire: Medium
Salinity: High
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: High

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -3 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 200 min.
Precipitation: 6–15 in/yr
pH range: 7.5–9
Root depth: 24 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Stem
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Moderate
Mature height: 25 ft
Height @ 20 y: 10 ft
Foliage texture: Fine
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Porous
Porosity (winter): Porous
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: Low
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Early Spring
Seed abundance: High
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Summer
Spread rate: None
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 14,000
Propagation: seed, cuttings, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: High
Graze palatability: High
Palatable, human: Yes
Protein potential: High
Lumber: Yes
Fuelwood: Medium
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 17 counties across 2 states/territories.

Arizona view state ↗ 9 N ▾

New Mexico view state ↗ 8 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/PRPU ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5358508 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T09:28:40Z