Another icon of the old west is the tumbleweed. One the high Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona and southern Utah, high winds can start waves of tumbleweeds moving across the dry desert. But if you were suddenly transported back in time to the mid-1800s you would find that all the tumbleweeds had disappeared. In fact, the plant, really called by the common name, Russian Thistle and is native to the Ural Mountains of Russia. To quote Wikipedia, "Salsola is a genus of herbs, subshrubs, shrubs, and small trees in the family Chenopodiaceae, native to Africa, Asia, and Europe. Plants in this genus typically grow on flat, often dry and/or somewhat saline soils, with some species in salt marshes. A few species are tumbleweeds. Recent genetic studies have however shown that the genus as traditionally circumscribed is paraphyletic, and many species are likely to be transferred to other genera in the future."
A typical plant can have 250,000 seeds which are widely disbursed by the rolling action of the plant. It will grow at any temperature between 28 degrees to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Each seed is a coiled, embryonic plant wrapped in a thin membrane.
The plant was first reported in South Dakota in 1877 and by 1900 had spread to the West Coast of the U.S.
Since I wasn't around before 1877, I have always had tumbleweeds as part of my desert experience. It is frightening to have a large tumbleweed blow in front of your car as you are speeding down the highway, but it you hit it, it disintegrates. We used to gather them up for bonfires, they are usually so dry they take only a few seconds to burn, but the blaze in very entertaining to young boys.
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