Monday, January 21, 2008

The Ugly Truth about the Tumbleweed

Think of the old west and tumbleweeds? Not before 1877 apparently. It is actually an invasive species from the Ukraine that arrived in South Dakota along with flax. By the 1900's it had rolled as far as California. Nothing like open plains for a plant that spreads it's seed by rolling around. And didn't we get horses ultimately from the Russian steppes? Our old west...just a bunch of Russian stuff transported across the Atlantic.

Read more about the tumbleweeds here and here.

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