screw-pod mesquite

1 definition found

screw-pod mesquite - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Mesquite \Mes*qui"te\ (m[e^]s*k[=e]"t[asl]), Mesquit \Mes*quit"\
     (m[e^]s*k[=e]t"), n. [Sp. mezquite; said to be a Mexican
     Indian word.] (Bot.)
     Aany of several small spiny trees or shrubs of the
     southwestern part of North America belonging to the genus
     Prosopis having small flowers in axillary cylindrical
     spikes followed by large sugar-rich pods, especially the
     honey mesquite, and screw-pod mesquite.
     [1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5]
  
     Honey mesquite. See Algaroba
     (b) .
  
     Screw-pod mesquite, a smaller tree (Prosopis pubescens),
        having spiral pods used as fodder and sometimes as food by
        the Indians.
  
     Mesquite grass, a rich native grass in Western Texas
        (Bouteloua oligostachya, and other species); -- so
        called from its growing in company with the mesquite tree;
        -- called also muskit grass, grama grass.
        [1913 Webster]