Tumbleweed
Tumbleweed is a common name for plants that are usually annuals, weedy or non-natives, and spread by the shoot of the plant breaking off at the base and rolling about under the force of the winds. The most commonly known of these plants is Salsola pestifera, of the Amaranthaceae family, which became naturalized over large areas of North America after being brought over from continental Asia often in shipments with agricultural seeds. Salsola kali is said to have arrived in the United States in shipment of flax seeds to South Dakota in the nineteenth century.[1] Other members of the same family which are also known to have this habit and are called "tumbleweed," include Amaranthus albus, native to Central America but introduced and weedy in Europe, Asia, and Australia, Amaranthus graecizans[2] naturalized to North America from its native Africa,[citation needed] and various members of the Brassicaceae or mustard family, such as Sisymbrium altissimum, that are variously known as the hedge mustards and tumble mustards.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Salsola_tragus.jpg/220px-Salsola_tragus.jpg)
Reflist
- ^ Epple (1997). Plants of Arizona. Falcon. p. 352. ISBN 978-1560445630.
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ignored (help) - ^ Abrams, LeRoy (1944). Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States Volume 2. Stanford University Press. p. 644. ISBN 978-0804700047.