Neltuma odorata

Honey mesquite, Honey Mesquite

Family: Fabaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Honey mesquite is a native shrub found in southern California regions including the San Joaquin Valley, coastal southern California, San Gabriel Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains, Peninsular Ranges, and desert areas at elevations below 1,700 meters. Flowering from April to August, this plant produces small yellow-green flowers in spike-like racemes 6 to 10 centimeters long. Growing as a shrub or small tree up to 7 meters tall with a crown often wider than its height, it features distinctively arched and crooked branches with short spines 5 to 40 millimeters long. Its compound leaves have a single pair of primary leaflets with 14 to 34 secondary leaflets, each oblong and 15 to 25 millimeters long. The plant produces linear fruits 5 to 20 centimeters long that contain 5 to 18 oblong seeds.

Habitat: Common. Grassland, alkali flats, washes, bottoms, sandy alluvial flats, mesas

Bloom period: Apr-Aug

Elevation: < 1700 m

Bioregions: SnJV, SCo, SnGb, SnBr, PR, D

California counties: Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern, Imperial, Inyo, Orange, San Diego, Ventura, Los Angeles, Fresno, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Cruz, Tulare, San Benito, Santa Barbara, Butte, Kings, Placer, Yolo, San Joaquin

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.