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Neltuma juliflora
Also called Algarroba Bean, Ironwood
Neltuma juliflora (mesquite) is a thorny, drought-tolerant shrub or small tree in the pea family, native to Mexico, South America and the Caribbean and widely invasive elsewhere. It grows fast and is best kept in dry, open ground where its spread can be controlled.
Neltuma juliflora (Spanish: bayahonda blanca, Cuji in Venezuela, Trupillo in Colombia, Aippia in the Wayuunaiki language and long-thorn kiawe in Hawaii), formerly Prosopis juliflora, is a shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae, a kind of mesquite. It is native to Mexico, South America and the Caribbean. It has become established as an invasive weed in Africa, India, Asia, Australia and elsewhere. It is a contributing factor to continuing transmission of malaria, especially during dry periods when sugar sources from native plants are largely unavailable to mosquitoes.
The seed pods contain neurotoxic alkaloids which are toxic when eaten excessively by livestock.
The sweet pods are edible and nutritious, and have been a traditional source of food for indigenous peoples in Peru, Chile and California. Pods were once chewed during long journeys to stave off thirst. They can be eaten raw, boiled, dried and ground into flour to make bread, stored underground, or fermented to make a mildly alcoholic beverage.
Algarrobo Blanco · Smooth Mesquite · Jand · Syrian mesquite · Neltuma glandulosa · Prosopis koelziana · Neltuma kuntzei · Neltuma nigra · Neltuma pallida · Strombocarpa pubescens · Strombocarpa strombulifera · Neltuma velutina
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Neltuma juliflora by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
