![]() “The seeds arrived in grain imported from Russia (eastern Asia) by immigrant farmers in the western United States,” says David Salman, Chief Horticulturist for High Country Gardens in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The spread of Russian thistle resulted in one of the fastest plant invasions in American history. They are invasive plants that hitchhiked to the United States with imported flax seeds during the 1870s. Origin of Tumbleweeds in the U.S.Įarly species of tumbleweeds are not a native part of the landscape of the American West as much as old westerns might make you think. During the Dust Bowl period in the 1930s, it was used as forage hay out of desperation when grasses failed.įun Fact: Tumbleweeds are not only a group of plants, but “tumbleweed” also refers to a process of seed dispersal adopted by multiple species of unrelated plants. Still, once the plant has dried to a skeletonized ball of branches, it rarely becomes the breakfast of animals. ![]() Small rodents and antelope might eat the tender shoots. Unlike other weed seeds, which can live for decades, most tumbleweed seeds only remain viable for one year (though some live up to three years). ![]() The seeds germinate in the spring, flower in the summer or fall (depending on the species), and reproduce only by seed. ![]() Bright green and succulent when growing, the Russian thistle has reddish or purple shoots and green flowers accompanied by spiky bracts. Although many species of tumbleweeds exist, Russian thistle ( Salsola tragus) is probably the best known. Tumbleweeds are a group of several species of plants that, once mature, dry out, sever themselves from the root, and are rolled along by the wind. Photo Credit: funkblast / Flickr / CC BY 2.0 ![]()
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