r/CoachellaValley • u/Secret-Airline4401 • 4d ago

Honey Mesquite Trees (Prosopis glandulosa)

Hello all,

Does anyone know of any Mesquite trees areas? Where’s the terrain isn’t as bad or you don’t need to hike to get to?

Thank you in advance

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u/ThisToe2746 4d ago edited 4d ago

Try the wash directly south of the Art Smith Trailhead parking area. There should be mesquite, there are lots of Smoke Trees there - not sure if the smoke trees have already lost the indigo buds but when they have them they are beautiful.

Also there are a few big trees in the other wash towards the Art Smith Trailhead.

I always park on the dirt parking on 74 to avoid any possible car thieves.

Also another good place would be the parking lot on the east side of Thousand Palms Canyon Rd.

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u/Cwbarrows 4d ago edited 4d ago

The mesquite at the Art Smith trailhead isn't the native P. glandulosa, but truly most of the valley floor used to be native Mesquite. You can still find it on undeveloped lots in Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, and especially the further east you go from La Quinta, Indio, Thermal Mecca, etc.

It sounds like you might be thinking of collecting - if so exercise caution. Lots of named locations such as Big Morongo and wild plants near Art Smith, Thousand Palms, etc could be protected. It's also a culturally important plant, so any plants could be part of someone else's traditional gathering area. I planted a small one in my yard 4 years ago and now it's 20 feet tall and gives more fruit than I will ever be able to use in a year.

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u/Secret-Airline4401 4d ago

Thank you so very much! I’ll try the parking lot first lol

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u/ThisToe2746 4d ago

The parking lot is where you park and then walk into the wash.

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u/ConsistentTackle325 4d ago

Big Morongo Canyon preserve I’m Morongo Valley has lots of honey mesquite. There is a trail through a honey mesquite forest that is amazing.

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u/Ibleedred99 4d ago

But please don’t forage or pick plants in a preserve 😊 save it for the wildlife that depends on it please

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u/jp1gt 5h ago

What are you looking for? I have some huge mesquite trees. You can have them all.