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(Last Modified On 11/16/2012)
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(Last Modified On 11/16/2012)
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Genus
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PROSOPIS L.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Mantissa, 10. 1767.
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Synonym
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Mitostax Raf. Sylva Tell. 120. 1838, fide Dalla Torre & Harms. Neltuma Raf. loc. cit. 119. 1838. Pleuromenes Raf. loc. cit. 144. 1838, fide Dalla Torre & Harms. Spirolobium Orbigny, Voy. Amer. Merid. 7, p. 1, Sert. Patagon., t. I3. 1839, fide Dalla Torre & Harms. Algarabia Benth. P1. Hartweg. 13. 1839. Strombocarpa Engelm. & Gray, in Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist. 5:243. 1845. Sopropis Britt. & Rose, in N. Am. Fl. 23:182. 1928.
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Description
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Trees or shrubs, armed or rarely unarmed. Leaves bipinnate, the pinnae 1 to several pairs, opposite, the leaflets few or many pairs per pinna; petiole prominent, usually glandular; rachis present or obsolete; leaflets generally small, glabrous or less frequently pubescent; stipules small, caducous, modified as spines, or in some species apparently lacking. Inflorescence of axillary, pedunculate heads, spikes, or even racemes. Flowers small, 5-parted, sessile or substipitate, yellowish or whitish; calyx synsepalous, usually shallowly and distantly dentate; petals free or connate near the middle; glabrous or pilose within; stamens normally 10, free, exserted; anthers comparatively large, bearing terminally a small or moderate, often caducous gland; ovary pubescent or glabrous, the style stout, the stigma small. Legume very variable, linear to spiral, flat or turgid, indehiscent, with a pulpy mesocarp, the endocarp septate or not septate.
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Habit
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Trees shrubs
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Distribution
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Chiefly New World from United States to Patagonia; a few species are Asiatic or African.
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Note
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A polymorphic genus, very variable and difficult to delimit precisely, containing many intergrading and difficultly distinguishable species. The genus exhibits a wide range of legume forms, which ordinarily in the MIMOSOIDEAE would be oc- casion for generic segregation. Strangely there has been a minimum of such segre- gation by responsible taxonomists, and some of the segregates (as Stro-nbocarpa, here included among the synonyms) appear to merit generic consideration. Within Prosopis in the broad sense are found characteristics prominent among a number of different genera: hence it is not surprising to find species now accepted as Prusopis having been described or included in Mimosa, Acacia, Desmantbits, etc. Neither the limits of the genus nor of most of the species have been accurately defined. Bentham (Trans. Linn. Soc. 30:376-388) listed 16 species in 4 sections. Burkart (Darwiniana 4:57-128) recognizes 33 species and an additional 2 sections. Britton and Rose (N. Am. Fl. 23:184-187) list 14 species (in segregate genus Nel5umc) as occurring north of South America, but it is generally conceded that few of these are tenable. Recent opinion indicates that but a single species occurs in Panama and all Central America.
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