mesquite

A leguminous tree or shrub of the genus Prosopis — the defining plant of the Chihuahuan and Sonoran Deserts and the southern Great Plains. Mesquite roots can reach 150 feet deep, tapping water tables inaccessible to any other plant. The wood burns hot and slow, giving barbecue its signature smoke. The sweet, protein-rich pods were a staple food for Indigenous peoples of the Southwest. Ranchers have spent a century trying to eradicate it. The mesquite keeps winning.