Eastern Mesquite - Code: Ne2G

Eastern Mesquite is a moderately open to dense shrubland occurring in arid areas of the southern Great Plains. This habitat is humid relative to other arid shrublands and summers can be brutally hot with temperatures regularly breaking 100°F (38°C). Most of the regions 16-25 in (400-650mm) of precipitation fall during these months, though winter snows are an annual occurrence. 

Eastern Mesquite is strongly dominated by a single plant – Honey Mesquite (Prosopis glandularis). This thorny member of the acacia family can form open shrub savannas or impenetrable thickets and is typically 2-10 ft (.5-3m) in height. In wetter areas small trees like net-leaf hackberry (Celtis laevigata) and western soapberry (Sapindus saponaria) are present.  The shrub layer is typically species poor and lotebush (Ziziphus obtusifolia), Chickasaw Plum (Prunus angustifolia), and Coyotebrush (Baccharis spp.) usually only occurs as a minor component. 

In all but the densest of mesquite stands, this habitat is quite grassy and has a wide assemblage of typical shortgrass and mixed grass graminoids. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Texas Wintergrass (Nassella leucotricha), Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis), and Ring Muhly (Muhlenbergia torreyi) are all important native grasses. Invasive grasses like Skutch Grass (Cynodon dactylon) and Field Brome (Bromus arvensis) are prevalent and can be dominant.

Honey Mesquite is the dominant and diagnostic plant in this system but is also present as an invader in many adjacent habitats. Because of this it becomes challenging to differentiate this system from regions where the species has spread due to human land-use activities. It could be argued that this is a largely Anthropogenic habitat.