Keith,
Live and learn. Thanks for the information on the origin of tumbleweeds.
Perhaps they were made famous by B-Western movies, but in my memory by the “Sons of the Pioneers” in the song “Tumbling Tumbleweeds.” When I was a kid in the Arizona desert, tumbleweeds were common – and everybody accepted them as native to the Southwest.
Bob
At 08:46 AM 9/13/2008, Keith Kridler wrote: >One of the “weed seeds” that was mixed in with the wheat seeds was a form of >Thistle common in Russian fields along the Volga River. A highly invasive >weed before herbicides and the Germans spread this thistle from south Texas >to the Panhandle of Texas in every area they farmed. The thistle dried out >in the fall and winter and would break loose from the soil and roll around >casting off more seeds everywhere it rolled. This Thistle in Texas and the >far Western States became legendary and most of you all know it by it’s >common name of the “Texas Tumbleweed”. Made famous in B-grade Western >movies. Keith Kridler > >