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Russian
Thistle
Common
Name(s):
Russian Thistle
Tumbleweed
Scientific
Name:
Salsola
tragus L.
Scientific
Name Synonyms:
Salsola iberica Sennen
& Pau
Salsola kali L.
Symbol:
SATR12
Description:
Life
Span: Winter
annual
Origin:
Introduced
Season: Warm
Growth Characteristics:
A
1 to 3 feet tall forb, very branched and round in shape. It can
be up to 5 feet wide. At first the plant is soft and succulent,
but it becomes rigid and spiny with maturity. It flowers July to
October and reproduces from seed.
Flowers/Inflorescence:
Small,
papery, and inconspicuous, growing singly or several together in
the axils of the spiny leaf clusters. The flowers are greenish to
pinkish-white.
Fruits/Seeds:Seeds
are round and snail-shaped, white to pink colored.
Leaves: Linear,
spine-tipped, alternate, and white to pink colored. They usually
become bright red in late summer and fall.
Ecological
Adaptations:
Russian
thistle is found in fields, overgrazed pastures, roadsides, waste
places, and disturbed sites. It does best on high, dry land if other
plants are not crowding it. Russian thistle is quite drought resistant.
Soils: Found
on nearly all soil types. It is salt resistant, so it does grow
well on alkali soils.
Associated Species:
Curlycup
gumweed, sunflower, cocklebur, cheatgrass,
and big sagebrush.
Uses and
Management:
Russian
thistle provides fair forage for cattle and sheep in the early spring,
becoming worthless with maturity because of the sharp-pointed leaves.
If it turns black at maturity and is softened by moisture it is
good winter feed. Livestock can suffer injury from the leaves, which
may accumulate nitrates, and may contain oxalates. It is an indicator
of overuse and unhealthy rangeland. It does not compete well with
other plant species.
When it is mature, it pulls free of the soil and blows away, hence
the name "tumbleweed." This is how the seed is spread.
Young shoots of Russian thistle can be used as a potherb and seeds
can be ground into meal. It is sometimes used for Christmas decoration.
Russian thistle is sometimes harvested for hay and silage. Russian
thistle hay is credited with saving the beef cattle industry in
Canada and the United States during the Dust Bowl era, when conventional
hay crops failed and no other feed was available for starving animals.
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