Prosopis (velutina)
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Allegra Mount Seed Lab Manager Borderlands Restoration PO Box 1191 Patagonia, Arizona 85624 949-690-2592 borderlands.restoration@gmail.com www.borderlandsrestoration.org |
| Family Scientific Name: | Fabaceae | ||
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| Family Common Name: | Pea family | ||
| Scientific Name: | Prosopis velutina Wooton | ||
| Common Name: | Velvet Mesquite | ||
| Ecotype: | Madrean Archipelago | ||
| General Distribution: | Grows below 1700m (5600ft) in desert plains and washes across the southwestern United States and northern Mexico (Anderson and Roberts). It is the dominant tree species along washes and provides important food and shelter for a variety of animals (Uchytil 1990). | ||
| Propagation Goal: | Plants | ||
| Propagation Method: | Seed | ||
| ProductType: | Container (plug) | ||
| Propagule Collection: | Collect the entire pods. They should be a beige color (not green) and snap easily off the tree. Unlike other members of the Fabaceae, P. velutina pods will not pop open when they are ripe. | ||
| Propagule Processing: |
Seed cleaning is time consuming and labour intensive. Dry pods thoroughly and then place them 2-3 at a time in a manual meat grinder fitted with a ¼” screen. Crank grinder until brown seeds pop out of screen. When grinder gets stuck or difficult to turn, crank handle in the opposite direction for several revolutions and then reverse direction again. Add 1-3 more pods when cranking becomes easy and small amounts of material are coming out of the grinder screen. Remove the screen and blade occasionally to remove stuck mesquite debris. Once seeds have been cleaned, winnow material with blow drier on low to remove majority of dusty pod material from seeds. In December 2016, we found this method to be unrealistically time/labour intensive for the large quantity of seed that needed to be cleaned. Instead of removing the seeds completely from the pods, we ground the pods in the meat grinder until the seeds were coated only in a thin shell-like casing surrounding the seed (the endocarp). We then emptied the meat grinder and considered the seeds clean. Another method that is similarly time/labour intensive is to lay the pods out in a tub and smash them with a rubber mallet until they break up into the desired size (either bare seeds or seeds with the endocarp). Since the methods described above are so time and labour intensive, other methods should be explored. Maybe the seeds are easier to clean after soaking or before they dry completely. Seeds have a very long shelf life. Scarified 11 year old seed can have up to 97% germination, while seed stored for 50 years has germination rates of around 60% (Uchytil, 1990). Store in a cool and dry location. |
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| Establishment Phase: |
Scarification is needed for P. velutina to achieve acceptable germination rates. In the wild this is accomplished when the pods are consumed by animals and the seeds pass through the digestive tract (Uchytil, 1990). Over time, weathering may also break the seed coat enough for germination to occur (Uchytil, 1990). In testing scarification methods for P. farcta, Majd et al. found that cutting the seed coat with a scalpel produced the highest germination rates (68-89%) while immersing the seeds in boiling water for five minutes produced decent but lower germination rates (28-54%) and was significantly less time-intensive for large amounts of seed. Although their studies involved a different species of mesquite, scarification methods seem to be consistent across the genus, and use of scalding water to break the dormancy period has been recommended for P. velutina (Anderson and Roberts). |
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| References: |
Anderson, M. Kat and Warren Roberts. “Plant Guide for Prosopis velutina Woot.” USDA NRCS Plant Guide. USDA-National Resources Conservation Service, National Plant Data Center, University of California, Davis, California. Web. https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_prve.pdf [2017, January 9]. Majd, Roghayeh, et al. "Evaluating of Some Treatments on Breaking seed Dormancy in Mesquite." International Journal of Agronomy and Plant Production 4.7 (2013): 1433-1439. Uchytil, Ronald J. “Prosopis velutina.” Fire Effects Information System. USDA - United States Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory, 1990. Web. https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/provel/all.html [2017, January 10]. Borderlands Restoration Network (2018). BRN Native Plant Materials Program Database. Unpublished Raw Data. |
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Citation:
Allen-Cantú, Juniper; Claverie, Francesca ; McNelis, Perin; Mount, Allegra. 2018. Propagation protocol for production of Container (plug) Prosopis velutina Wooton Plants Borderlands Restoration Patagonia, Arizona. In: Native Plant Network. URL: https://NativePlantNetwork.org (accessed 2024/07/23). US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Center for Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources.
