commonly known as the Russian thistle
| Salsola kali (also Salsola iberica)
commonly known as the Russian thistle |
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| Salsola kali, more commonly known as tumbleweed, is an invasive weed. The plant probably got its name because entire dead plants are known to tumble along the landscape pushed by strong winds in arid regions of the west and midwestern portions of the United States. Some folks have even made money selling real tumblers. As dead plants tumble across the landscape, seeds are dispersed from the plant to new locations for the next growing season. Tumbleweed is an annual that attains 1-2 m height. They have C4 photosynthesis and a life history that allow it to thrive in disturbed arid environments. Plants germinate in late spring or following summer rains. They flower by mid to late summer and tumble across the landscape in the fall and winter. Both the narrow linear leaves (only 0.3-0.8 mm wide) and stems can photosynthesize. These aggressive, invasive annual plants do well in our western deserts, especially following fires. Originally introduced from Eurasia, tumbleweeds are common throughout all of the lower elevations of Utah today and are even a common nuisance in our backyards. | |||||||||||||
| photo taken from Tarelton University | |||||||||||||
| This is the plant that Roy Rogers sang about in the 1930's when they were singing about the "tumbling tumbleweeds". | |||||||||||||
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| Click on the images to the left in order to get larger pictures of the plants from their original web sites | |||||||||||||