Ecology Distribution Management Info Impact Info References and Links Contacts

Click here to go back Details of this species in Brazil Status: Alien Invasiveness: Invasive Occurrence: Established Source: Agriculture & Resource Management Council of Australia & New Zealand, 2000 Arrival Date: 1870s Introduction: Species Notes for this Location: The major introduction of Prosopis complex has been recorded as introduced and naturalised species outside of its natural range to elsewhere in the Americas is to the semi-arid zones of north-east Brazil. The species present are under debate, with Burkart (1976) confirming that they were P. juliflora, though stating that P. pallida had also been introduced to Brazil without specifying where. (Pasiecznik 2001). P. juliflora is mentioned in the Flora Brasileira as long ago as 1879 (Bentham 1879, in Burkart 1976) and shows that the species was present at least locally before this. It is possible that trade between the Caribbean and Brazil may have led to the introduction of P. juliflora to the dry coastal areas of Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte from Venezuela or the Caribbean in the 1800s and this race may be the origin of the thorny slow growing form. Later introductions from the Peruvian-Ecuadorian race beginning in the 1940s appear to have resulted in the short thorned, fast growing and erect form, which has been widely planted in the region and is now the dominant type in the northeast of Brazil. Other species noted in Brazil are P. hassleri or a hybrid of it (Burkart 1976) and a disjunct population of P. ruscifolia near to Petrolina (Lima and Silva 1991, in Pasiecznik 2001). Mesquites are weeds in BrazilAgriculture & Resource Management Council of Australia & New Zealand, 20). Management Notes for this Location: Location Notes: Last Modified: 16/12/2005 10:26:58 a.m.