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Perhaps the
first thing people
notice about the
Prosopis pubescens,
Screwbean Mesquite
is the unusual spiral of
the seed pods from which
it takes its name. The
tree is sometime
referred to as a large
shrub, but in landscape
settings it regularly
grows to 25' tall and as
wide. Unpruned it has a
shrub like growth habit
with fairly dense
branching. Pale to very
bright yellow, 2" to 3",
spike blooms are
produced from May to
June. Foliage is pale
blue-green and made up
of as many as 18 tiny
leaflets. The tree grows
at a moderate rate and
is deciduous in winter.
Screwbean are found in
California, Nevada,
Utah, Arizona and New
Mexico at elevations up
to 4000 feet. With its
beautiful spring flower
displays, it is an
excellent accent tree or
it can be used as a
specimen in more
elaborate landscape
designs. It is also use
in the landscape as a
background tree with
flowering shrubs. Unlike
many desert natives,
Screwbean cannot be
naturalized to survive
on rainfall along.
Supplemental summer
irrigations are
essential in most
Southwestern desert
locations. In the desert
the tree is found
primarily along water
courses and in
"bottomlands" that
experience periodic
flooding. The tree will
tolerate lawn plantings.
It is hardy to 0 degrees
F (-18 C). Tornillo,
which in Spanish means
screw, clamp or vise, is
a common name sometimes
associated with
Screwbean Mesquite.
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