Why must the tumbleweed tumble?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
June 27, 2002
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Prickly glasswort (Salsola kali Linnaeus) was a useful plant from the 1300s to the 1700s. It and/or related species were the source of sodium carbonate for the manufacture of glass and soap. (The botanical nomenclature and number of species or subspecies are not settled.) Prickly glasswort is more commonly known as Russian thistle or tumbleweed; now a major nuisance species in Australia and North America.
Tumbleweeds are odd members of the goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae); no other genera in the family have the 'globose' growth habit that facilitates rolling in the wind. The stem has an abscission (separation) zone that forms when the seeds are almost mature. The plant becomes transportation for the spread of the seeds.
Tumbleweeds are annuals. The survival tactic is to produce many simple seeds; each plant produces up to 250,000. Tumbleweed fruit are utricles, thin membranes with a single seed. There is no endosperm (stored food reserve) or seed coat inside the membrane, only a coiled embryonic plant. The embryo begins growing as soon as temperatures are between -2 and 43° C (28 to 110° F).
James A. Young (Scientific American, March 1991) explains, "The Russian thistle does not undergo germination in the normal sense, whereby cell division results in the growth....Rather the embryo uncoils....If, after uncoiling, the radicle (seed root) finds sufficient moisture...it quickly spreads cotyledons, or seed leaves and begins growing...." Tumbleweeds out-compete all other plant species on bare disturbed soils. But if the weed does not tumble, it never sheds its seeds and they die within a few months.
Young adds, "...Russian thistle has followed human activities—even atomic-weapon testing. On sites in southern Nevada...[it] was the first plant to reestablish a population at ground zero." It may even follow humans into space. In an early episode of Star Trek, Mr. Spock takes Captain Pike back to Talos IV. He is viewed firing his phaser from behind a tumbleweed.
Integrated Pest Management of the University of California, Davis has a photograph of the coiled embryo of tumbleweed. To view the photograph, click on the link:
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pni7486-a.html
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~6~~7~~8~~9~~10~~
Suggested Reading:
Why were Mennonites blamed for a Russian invasion? Plants that Changed History - July 2, 2002
Why must the tumbleweed tumble? Weird Plants - June 27, 2002
How did glassworts change personal hygiene? Plants that Changed History - June 25, 2002
What is fry bread? Renfield's Garden - November 20, 2002
Why did wheat become a major crop in North America? Plants that Changed History - Sep. 11, 2001
Why did Mennonites plant sunflowers? Plants that Changed History - May 13, 2003
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