Algarroba-bean

Prosopis juliflora, commonly known as algarroba or mesquite, is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree in the legume family (Fabaceae) native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America, and now naturalized as a pantropical invasive in arid Africa, the Middle East, India, and Australia. It typically reaches 5-12 meters in height, with a broad, spreading, somewhat irregular crown and a short, often crooked trunk bearing dark, deeply fissured bark. Branches are armed with stout, paired axillary spines 1-5 cm long, though some forms are nearly spineless. Leaves are alternate, bipinnate, with 1-3 pairs of pinnae each bearing 11-15 pairs of small oblong, glabrous, grey-green leaflets 6-15 mm long. Fragrant, pale yellow to cream flowers are densely packed in cylindrical spike-like racemes 7-15 cm long. The fruit is a thick, indehiscent, sub-cylindrical pod 10-30 cm long, slightly curved and constricted between the seeds, ripening yellow with a sweet pulp around hard seeds.