Prosopis juliflora, (Swartz) DC

Family: Leguminosae-Mimosoideae

Common Name : Mesquite

Telugu Name : Sarkaritumma

General :

It is a native of Central and South Africa and now naturalized everywhere. It can grow up in rocky hills, sandy and saline patches (pH upto 11.5), shifting sand dunes and coastal sands. It does not tolerate waterlogged conditions.

Flowering :

Once in September to October and another in February to March.

Fruiting :

Pods ripen twice, once in November to December and another in April to June

Morphology of the Fruit/Seed :

Pods 12 to 25 cms by 0.7 to 2.0 cms, linear, straw coloured when ripe, mesocarp pulpy, endocarp cartilaginous, surrounding each seed separately. Seeds 12 to 34, light brown, oblong, flattened with thin light brown lusturous testa.

Seed Collection and Storage :

Ripe pods collected from trees are soaked in water for 10 days, dried and then beaten to get single segmented seeds which are dried well and stored.

Seed Biology :

No. of seeds per Kg.

Germination percentage

Germination period in days

30,000

80 to 90

30

Pretreatment:

Either soak the seeds in cold water for 48 hours; or cover the seed with boiling water, allow to cool and soak for 24 hours; or soak the seed in 20% H2SO4 for one hour.

Nursery Technique :

In difficult areas, rocky and saline areas, large polythene bag seedlings (1 year old) are planted. Two seeds per polybag are put in March to April. 5 months old seedlings are planted.