Tumbling Tumbleweeds

“Tumbling Tumbleweeds” is a song composed by Bob Nolan. Although one of the most famous songs associated with the Sons of the Pioneers, the song was composed by Nolan in the 1930s, while working as a caddy and living in Los Angeles. Originally titled “Tumbling Leaves,”  the song was reworked into the title “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” and into fame with the 1935 Gene Autry film of the same name. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.  The tumbleweed dispersal strategies are unusual among plants; most species disperse their seeds by other mechanisms. Many tumbleweeds are ruderal species, opportunistic agricultural weeds. But the truth about tumbleweeds isn’t so simple. They may be romantic symbols of our national love affair with the Wild West, but tumbleweeds are also invasive weeds called Russian thistle, and many modern-day Westerners fear they’re taking over.  In 1873, Russian immigrants arrived in South Dakota carrying flax seed that was apparently contaminated with Russian thistle seeds (Salsola tragus). Once sown, these invaders from another continent quickly sprouted, unhampered by natural predators and diseases to keep them in check. Each winter after Russian thistle plants die, the brittle bushy parts snap off at the roots and blow away, dispersing seeds wherever they tumble (about 250,000 per plant).  Because Russian thistle thrives on little precipitation and easily exploits disturbed land stripped of native species, it was able to quickly take hold in the vast agricultural fields and overgrazed rangelands of the arid West. By the end of the 1800s, this intruder had already rolled its way across most western states and into Canada, carried by wind and even railroad cars.  A government botanist sent to investigate in the early 1890s could barely believe his eyes: “One almost continuous area of about 35,000 square miles has become more or less covered with the Russian thistle in the comparatively brief period of twenty years.”  When we think of tumbleweeds we rarely picture fledgling Russian thistle bushes, which many consider beautiful with their reddish purple striped stems, tender leaves and delicate flowers. Growing from six inches to three feet tall (with some sprouting to Volkswagen Beetle size), they later develop sharp spines.  Many animal species feed on the succulent new shoots, including mule deer, pronghorn, prairie dogs and birds. Russian thistle hay actually saved cattle from starvation during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s when other feed wasn’t available