Real Dictionary

Mesquite in American English
any of several thorny trees or shrubs (genus Prosopis) of the mimosa family, common in the SW U.S. and in Mexico, including the screw bean: the sugary, beanlike, edible pods are used as fodder
city in NE Tex.: suburb of Dallas: pop. 125,000
noun: any of several usually spiny trees or shrubs belonging to the genus Prosopis, of the legume family, as P. juliflora or P. glandulosa, of western North America, having bipinnate leaves and beanlike pods and often forming dense thickets

mesquite in British English
noun: any small leguminous tree of the genus Prosopis, esp the tropical American P. juliflora, whose sugary pods (mesquite beans) are used as animal fodder