High Desert Rollers

by Ginger Dehlinger of Bend, OR

It came from out of nowhere, bounced across the centerline and hit the side of the car with the force of a feather.

“Look out!” cried the woman in the passenger seat, as the driver swerved to miss a small herd of the pesky devils. Some of them were huge – three or four feet high and five feet in diameter. What kind of crazies would dart out in front of traffic like that? Ghost riders from the sky? Emus on the loose? Nope. Just a frisky gang of tumbleweeds rolling across the high desert on a windy day in October.

Tumbleweeds, along with sagebrush and barbed wire, are an integral part of the saga of the Wild West. Nothing portrays the desolation of frontier life quite as well as a lonely tumbleweed blowing across flat, barren land on a stormy day. But what are these nuisance weeds, and how did they become such a plague?

Tumbleweed is the term commonly used for a number of plants that break off at the base of their roots when they die. Since they’re more or less round and lightweight, they literally dry up and blow away when the first good wind comes along. During tumbleweed season, which is late summer/early fall, they travel for miles through stubble fields, prairies, deserts, and other wide-open spaces.

Most tumbleweeds are actually Russian thistles, and though they’re not true thistles, their branches have that same thorny quality. If two or more tumbleweeds happen to tumble into each other, their barb-covered branches stick to each other like pieces of Velcro. At times they unite into super-weeds that are double or triple in size. Watch out if one of those comes rolling down the highway!

According to plant historians, Russian thistle, which grows naturally on the steppes of Russia, first appeared in America in the 1870’s. It was introduced in South Dakota by Russian immigrants who unknowingly carried it in their flax seed. When the immigrants planted their first crop, they got flax all right, but tumbleweeds, too.

Within twenty-five years, those hardy weeds had tumbled a thousand miles to the Mexican border, and they now grow in every state in the West. They’re especially plentiful in drier climates where the ground is flat enough for them to move around easily. Though they don’t need much water, they rarely survive in altitudes above 8,000 feet.

Russian thistle is almost impossible to control because of its huge capacity for producing seeds. One plant can develop up to 50,000 seeds, which fall off as it bounces across the ground. Stubborn as mules, tumbleweeds conserve water like camels to choke out other weeds and grasses, and are often the only plants to survive a draught. Weed killers can be applied to keep tumbleweeds under control, but the noxious plant has spread too far to be wiped out completely.

There’s no Guinness record for the longest journey made by any one tumbleweed, but they can travel great distances. They don’t stop rolling until they run into something blocking their path. Most often this is a fence, where the majority of tumbleweeds come to the end of their trail.

As weed after weed tumbles against a fence, they lock together in a tangled mass that eventually provides shelter for pheasants, quail, rabbits or other small animals looking for a place to hide. Coyotes sneak along these stretches like hungry fence line riders, searching for a meal. Snakes, too, mosey inside for a rodent snack, or to nap in the shade during the heat of the day.

Eventually, time takes its toll on the tumbleweeds at the bottom of the pile. After years of scorching summers and snow-laden winters turn them into bleached skeletons, and the critters they shelter break off their branches for nests, there’s finally nothing left of them.

But, you can’t lick ‘em. Thousands more of these stickery vagabonds ride the range each fall – spreading seeds, playing dodge ball with drivers on the highway, and hitching rides on cars and trucks. If you happen to be out West during tumbleweed season, keep your eyes open when the wind picks up, or you might get caught in a tumbleweed stampede!