‘Variety AZT’ Native Mesquite, Prosopis velutina (juliflora) ‘AZT™’
Native Mesquites, Prosopis velutina (juliflora), are among the small community of indigenous trees that give the Sonoran Desert its unique, lush appearance and are distributed throughout Central and Southern Arizona, West Coast of Mexico, and the West Indies. In the wild they grow along stream beds, in washes, on slopes and mesas, anywhere deep soils are found and on desert plains. Some Native Mesquites are distinguished from the other Mesquite species by the short dense hairs that cover nearly the entire plant including their seed pods. This fuzzy appearance has led some to refer to this species as Velvet Mesquite.
In undisturbed settings, these trees serve to stabilize soil and wash/riverbanks in riparian areas, provide food and shelter for desert fauna, and are a pollen and nectar source for bees. In the landscape, trees grow best in well-draining soils and can tolerate planting in turf areas. Maturing trees can be naturalized to survive on typical seasonal rainfall, in the Sonoran Desert, alone but appear lusher with deep, monthly, summer irrigations. In the landscape, trees grow at a moderate rate and can reach a height of 40' and spread 20 to 40' with trunk diameters of up to 3 feet. Mature, seed grown, multiple trunk specimens or desert salvage specimens can occupy a large area within the landscape making proper tree placement, at the time of installation, critical.
Mature specimens have dark, shaggy bark and feathery, soft, gray-green foliage that provides welcome filtered shade from mid-spring to late fall. Native Mesquites tolerate lawn planting but shade from maturing trees will inhibit growth of lawns, understory plantings, and the flowering of most shrubs. Nursery grown trees and native trees growing in undisturbed desert settings grow in multi-trunk forms. Thorns, from ¼ to ½” are found along both new and maturing branch growth.
Nondescript, cream colored, cylindrical flowers appear by mid-spring and the resulting tan seed pods are shed in summer. In informal desert designs, Native Mesquites can be used as a theme tree, in streetscapes, as individual specimen at entry monuments or points of interest, around golf course tee boxes, fairways, or as backdrops to greens or as the center piece of a desert scene. An appreciation of the mature size of Native Mesquites and proper placement within the landscape will help reduce the need for regular, extensive pruning. This beautiful Native Mesquite brings a feeling of the Sonoran Desert into any landscape design.
Botanical and Common Names
There has been much disagreement within academic botanical and horticultural literatures as to what constitutes an authentic Native Mesquite. Some suggest that the tree is Prosopis velutina while others support claims that it is Prosopis juliflora. The literature on the genus Prosopis generally agrees that nearly all the “species” within this genus freely hybridize and that many documented species are likely hybrids that can attribute their distinction to the area or region where they were studied and described. Scientific controversies notwithstanding Native Mesquite, however one chooses to define it, is among the most common trees found in the Sonoran Desert.
Prosopis velutina (juliflora) ‘AZT™’
We began developing Prosopis velutina (juliflora) ‘AZT™’, Native Mesquite, in part, to try to address some of this confusion about naming and to bring greater uniformity in growth and form to this unique Sonoran Desert tree. Additionally, this ‘AZT™’ variety is less attractive to vector insects (aphids, thrip, whiteflies or psyllids) reducing or eliminating the need for seasonal pesticide applications to control these pests. Prosopis velutina (juliflora) 'AZT™' is propagated and available exclusively from Arid Zone Trees.
Variety 'AZT™': Arid Zone Trees makes selections from thousands of trees propagated from seed and cuttings. Only individual trees having the most desirable physical qualities (branching habits, leaf color, leaf canopy, and, where appropriate, flower color and abundance) and sound horticultural characteristics (rooting, cold hardiness, and growth rate) are selected for further study. These trees are then cloned (vegetatively propagated) and planted at our nursery for further evaluation. Only the best of these trees become “Mother” trees that are used in our cloning production and are designated Variety 'AZT™'. Since no one single selection of any desert tree species is best adapted to all landscape applications, we continually search for new additions to our Variety 'AZT™'. To ensure that all our trees have health, vigorous, well distributed root systems, Variety ‘AZT™’ selections and seed grown trees from AZT are all produced using our Root Management Program.
Prosopis velutina (juliflora) ‘AZT™’
we are so confident of the quality, we put our name on it.
