An FAO survey, carried out as a first Phase of the present FAO/IBPGR Project (FAO 1980), identifies several potentially interesting species of Prosopis in Mexico, Chile and Peru. However, because the taxonomy of Prosopis is still being developed, the scientific names which should be assigned to these species are uncertain.
The classification system used in this handbook is the most recent, and consequently, includes some names which are different from those in the above-mentioned report (Table 1). In addition, a number of species were not included in the report that were possibly not of immediate concern, but never-the-less could become important in the future. In the interest of completeness, all of the major native or indigenous species in Mexico, Chile and Peru are included in this handbook. They are listed in Table 2.
