Mary Jo Walker
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A tumbleweed is a structural part of the above-ground anatomy of a number of species of plants. It is a diaspore that, once mature and dry, detaches from its root or stem and rolls due to the force of the wind.
Feb 7, 2022 · Like cowboys, wagon trains and buffalo, tumbleweeds are icons of the Old West. These twisted balls of dead foliage rolling across deserts and the open range are staples of Western movies and the...
Oct 15, 2024 · Tumbleweed, plant that breaks away from its roots and is driven about by the wind as a light rolling mass, scattering seeds as it goes. Examples include pigweed (Amaranth retroflexus, a widespread weed in the western United States) and other amaranths, tumbling mustard, Russian thistle, the steppe.
The structure that is pushed by the wind is usually called tumbleweed. This structure will detach from its root or stem and will roll on the ground. In most such species, the tumbleweed consists of the whole plant apart from the root system. Sometimes, only a hollow fruit or inflorescence detaches. [1] .
As its fruits mature, the plant dies, dries and becomes hard and brittle. It is in this state that it is likely to detach from its root and become a tumbleweed. As tumbleweeds go, it is very large, often a metre or more in diameter, spiny, largely inedible to most livestock if unprocessed, and a fire hazard. [15]
Mar 8, 2024 · Tumbleweeds are a familiar sight to most people who live in the western United States. They’re brown, round and can be found rolling across the street on windy days. In early March, tumbleweeds took over a town in Utah, causing cars and houses to disappear from plain sight. How did it happen? And why do we have tumbleweeds in the first place?
Jun 6, 2017 · A tumbleweed is a combination of plants that have formed together, detached from their roots, and tumbled away in the wind, hence their name.
Called the “white man’s plant” by some American Indians, the Russian thistle, of which the scientific name is Salsola kali, is one of several plant species known as tumbleweeds. These plants are native to arid regions of the world, primarily deserts and grasslands.
May 23, 2018 · tumbleweed, any of several plants, particularly abundant in prairie and steppe regions, that commonly break from their roots at maturity and, drying into a rounded tangle of light, stiff branches, roll before the wind, covering long distances and scattering seed as they go.
The arrival and spread of Russian thistle is considered to be one of the fastest plant invasions in the history of the United States. Today the plant is found in all states except Alaska and Florida. Tumbleweeds in a roadside ditch in Haskell County, Kansas, being burned in 1941.
