17 Southwest Highways & Fields
Tumbleweeds:
What Are They Good For?
By Susan Decker
With its feathery leaves and long, bumpy seed pods, The Honey Mesquite is a recognizable medium-sized flowering tree that lives in the southwest, from California to Louisiana, though 76% of America's mesquite trees grow in Texas. This drought-tolerant tree is hard to remove; when you cut one down, a new, multi-trunked mesquite will quickly grow in its place. The Honey Mesquite is native to the southwest, but has become invasive in other parts of the world, making the IUCN's "World's Worst 100 Invasive Species".
Mesquite provides good slow-
burning firewood great for smok-
ing meat. The deep taproots are
often larger than the trunks, and
they can be dug up for firewood.
Animals like to eat the sweet seed
pods, and people can grind them
into a flour to make bread. The
green pods can be made into a
syrup, and a broth can also me
made from boiled pods. They are
still commonly eaten in Mexico,
and can be fermented to make
wine. Mesquite pods can be used
as fodder for sheep, goats and pigs.
The tree usually grows 20 to 30 feet high, but can reach heights of 50 feet. Honey mesquites produce fragrant yellow flowers that bees turn into great honey, hence the tree's common name.
Few plants in today’s world determine when people take their vacations, but blulegendary tumbleweed, famed in song, reviled by ranchers, brings a lot of aggravation to those in the arid West who encounter it, but is it all bad? Like all legends, the history of the tumbleweed in America has been obscured by confused identities, wild anecdotes, and the willingness to believe anything. To weed out the truth, so to speak, let’s have a look at the history and botany of the plant. Tumbleweeds, although iconic to the American West, are not native. They have been variously said to come from the steppes of Russia, Mongolia, or the Ural Mountains, and are said to have been brought to America either mixed with flaxseed imported by Ukrainian farmers in the Dakotas then spread in cattle cars by trains, or stuck to Russian burlap bags carried on railroads—the seeds are said to have dropped off the bags when unloaded and spread along the track line. The confusion about the origins has to do with the fact that several different plants are called tumbleweeds. The story of one easily became attached to a different plant, and with the ease of internet searches the half-truths are repeated and combined with other stories many times over until it is now all quite muddled.
along the track line. The confusion about the origins has to do with the fact that several different plants are called tumbleweeds. The story of one easily became attached to a different plant, and with the ease of internet searches the half-truths are repeated and combined with other stories many times over until it is now all quite muddled. The tumbleweed plant I am interested in is the Russian thistle. It is in the amaranth, or goosefoot, family. This family used to be called chenopods, so some people think they are two different families, but they are the same. The Russian thistle belongs to the genus Salsola, from Latin sal, salt, referring to its salt tolerance. But a quick internet search yields a wide variety of Salsola species in the U.S., so which one is the real plant of the southwestern states? When in doubt about a plant, I turn to two reliable websites: the USDA plant database at plants.usda.gov and the Integrated Taxonomic Information System at itis.gov.