<Li> <P> Honey mesquite foliage </P> </Li> <P> Honey mesquite foliage </P> <P> This tree blooms from spring to summer . It often produces fruits known as "pods". Prosopis spp are able to grow up to 8 m tall, with regards to site and climate . It is deciduous and depending on location and rainfall can have either deep or shallow roots . Prosopis spp is considered long - lived because of the low mortality rate after the dicotyledonous stage and juveniles are also able to survive in conditions with low light and drought . The Cahuilla indigenous people of western North America were known to eat the seeds of mesquite . </P> <P> Prosopis spp has been in North America since the Pliocene era and its wood is dated 3300 yr BP . It is thought to have evolved with megafauna in the New World . The loss of North American megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene era gave way to one theory of how the Prosopis spp was able to survive . One theory is that the loss of the megafauna allowed Prosopis spp to use its fruit pods to attract other organisms to spread its seeds; then with the introduction of livestock it was able to spread into grasslands . Another is that Prosopis spp had always been present in grasslands but recurring fires had delayed plant and seed development before the emergence of livestock and grazing . </P>

In the deserts of the united states mesquite trees