{ Mes‐qui″te (mĕs‐kē″tā̍), Mes‐quit″ (mĕs‐kēt″) }, n. [Sp. mezquite; said to be a Mexican Indian word.] (Bot.) A name for two trees of the southwestern part of North America, the honey mesquite, and screw-pod mesquite.
Honey mesquite. See Algaroba (b). — Screw-pod mesquite, a smaller tree (Prosopis pubescens), having spiral pods used as fodder and sometimes as food by the Indians. — Mesquite grass, a rich native grass in Western Texas (Bouteloua oligostachya, and other species); — so called from its growing in company with the mesquite tree; — called also muskit grass, grama grass.