Tumbleweed Fire, Los Angeles County 2021, Part 9

A tumbleweed is a structural part of the above-ground anatomy of a number of species of plants. It is a diaspore that, once mature and dry, detaches from its root or stem and rolls due to the force of the wind. In most such species, the tumbleweed is in effect the entire plant apart from the root system, but in other plants, a hollow fruit or inflorescence might detach instead. Xerophyte tumbleweed species occur most commonly in steppe and arid ecosystems, where frequent wind and the open environment permit rolling without prohibitive obstruction.

Apart from its primary vascular system and roots, the tissues of the tumbleweed structure are dead; their death is functional because it is necessary for the structure to degrade gradually and fall apart so that its seeds or spores can escape during the tumbling, or germinate after the tumbleweed has come to rest in a wet location. In the latter case, many species of tumbleweed open mechanically, releasing their seeds as they swell when they absorb water.

The tumbleweed diaspore disperses seeds, but the tumbleweed strategy is not limited to the seed plants; some species of spore-bearing cryptogams—such as ''Selaginella''—form tumbleweeds, and some fungi that resemble puffballs dry out, break free of their attachments and are similarly tumbled by the wind, dispersing spores as they go.

Plants that form tumbleweeds

The tumbleweed dispersal strategies are unusual among plants; most species disperse their seeds by other mechanisms. Many tumbleweeds establish themselves on broken soil as opportunistic agricultural weeds. Tumbleweeds have been recorded in the following plant groups:
* Amaranthaceae (including Chenopodiaceae)
* Amaryllidaceae
* Asphodelaceae
* Asteraceae
* Brassicaceae
* Boraginaceae
* Caryophyllaceae
* Fabaceae
* Lamiaceae
* Poaceae

In the family Amaranthaceae '' s.l.'' (i.e. broadly defined to include Chenopodiaceae), several annual species of the genus ''Kali'' are tumbleweeds. They are thought to be native to Eurasia, but when their seeds entered North America in shipments of agricultural seeds, they became naturalized in large areas. In the cinema genre of Westerns, they have long been symbols of frontier areas. ''Kali tragus'' is the so-called "Russian thistle". It is an annual plant that breaks off at the stem base when it dies, and forms a tumbleweed, dispersing its seeds as the wind rolls it along. It is said to have arrived in the United States in shipments of flax seeds to South Dakota, perhaps about 1870. It now is a noxious weed throughout North America, dominating disturbed habitats such as roadsides, cultivated fields, eroded slopes, and arid regions with sparse vegetation. Though it is a troublesome weed, ''Kali tragus'' also provides useful livestock forage on arid rangelands.Salsola tragus Linnaeus
in Vol. 4 Page 399, 400, 401, 40
Flora of North AmericaeFloras.org

Other members of the Amaranthaceae (s.l.) that form tumbleweeds include ''Kochia'' species, page 477 '' Cycloloma atriplicifolium'', and ''Corispermum hyssopifolium'', which are called plains tumbleweed. ''Atriplex rosea'' is called the tumbling oracle or tumbling orach.Atriplex rosea Linnaeus
in Vol. 4 Page 326, 340, 35
Flora of North AmericaeFloras.org

Among the Amaranthaceae ( s.s.) that form tumbleweeds, there are several species of ''Amaranthus'', such as '' Amaranthus albus'', native to Central America but invasive in Europe, Asia, and Australia; and ''Amaranthus graecizans'', native to Africa, but naturalized in North America. ''Amaranthus retroflexus'', which is indigenous to tropical North and South America, has become nearly cosmopolitan largely as a weed, but like many other species of ''Amaranthus'', it also is widely valued as animal forage and as human food, though it should be utilised with caution to avoid toxicity.Watt, John Mitchell; Breyer-Brandwijk, Maria Gerdina: The Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Southern and Eastern Africa 2nd ed Pub. E & S Livingstone 1962

Several Southern African genera in the family Amaryllidaceae produce highly optimised tumbleweeds; their inflorescences are globular umbels with long, spoke-like pedicels, either effectively at ground level, or breaking off once the stems are dry. When the seeds are about ripe, the fruit remain attached to the peduncles, but the stem of the umbel detaches, permitting the globes to roll about in the wind. The light, open, globular structures form very effective tumbleweed diaspores, dropping their seeds usually within a few days as the follicles fail under the wear of rolling. The seeds are fleshy, short-lived, and germinate rapidly where they land. Being poisonous and distasteful, they are not attractive to candidate transport animals, so the rolling diaspore is a very effective dispersal strategy for such plants. Genera with this means of seed dispersal include ''Ammocharis'', ''Boophone'', '' Crossyne'' and ''Brunsvigia''.

Some species of the Apiaceae form tumbleweeds from their flower umbels, much as some Amaryllidaceae do.

In the Asteraceae, the knapweed ''Centaurea diffusa'' forms tumbleweeds. It is native to Eurasia and is naturalized in much of North America. Also in the Asteraceae, '' Lessingia glandulifera'', native to America, sometimes forms tumbleweeds; it grows on sandy soils in desert areas, chaparral, and open pine forests of the western United States.Lessingia glandulifera
in Vol. 20 Page 452, 454, 45
Flora of North AmericaeFloras.org

In the Brassicaceae, '' Sisymbrium altissimum'', '' Crambe maritima'', ''Lepidium

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