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Prosopis cineraria
Also called Jandi, Indian Mesquite
Jand (Prosopis cineraria) is a small, thorny desert tree of the pea family, native to arid parts of Western Asia and the Indian subcontinent. It grows well in very dry, alkaline or saline soils once established, and its deep roots let it reach groundwater.
Prosopis cineraria, also known as Persian mesquite or ghaf, chaunkro (Braj Bhakha : चौंक्रो) , jand (Hindustani/Kauravi, Punjabi: जंड/ਜੰਡ) or khejri (Rajasthani: खेजड़ी), is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. It is native to arid portions of Western Asia and the Indian subcontinent, including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iran, India, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Its leaves are bipinnate. It can survive extreme drought. It is an established introduced species in parts of Southeast Asia, including Indonesia.
The ghaf is the national tree of the United Arab Emirates. Through the Give a Ghaf campaign its citizens are urged to plant it in their gardens to combat desertification and preserve their country's heritage. The desert village of Nazwa in the UAE is home to the Al Ghaf Conservation Reserve.
In Thar Desert the singhri or sangri pods growing on Prosopis cineraria are used in various types of bhaaji and kadhi. Singhri is one of the traditional cuisines of the Thar Desert.
Algarrobo Blanco · Mesquite · Smooth Mesquite · Syrian mesquite · Neltuma glandulosa · Prosopis koelziana · Neltuma kuntzei · Neltuma nigra · Neltuma pallida · Strombocarpa pubescens · Strombocarpa strombulifera · Neltuma velutina
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Prosopis cineraria 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.
