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They’re prickly.
Restless.
Rambling.
But if most plants are perfectly content to
stay in one place, why does the tumbleweed
hit the open road?
Tumbleweeds start out as tiny seedlings.
They sprout in late winter.
By summer the plant takes on its round shape.
They grow flowers nestled between thorny leaves.
Inside each flower, a fruit with a single
seed develops.
This fruit is different than something delicious
like cherries.
Lucky for the cherry tree, a bird will carry
the fruit away in its belly and disperse its
seeds.
But the tumbleweed takes matters into its
own hands.
Come fall, the plant dries out and dies.
The seeds are still in there.
Gusts of wind easily break the dead tumbleweed
from its roots.
See where it was attached?
It looks kind of like bones.
A special layer of cells at the base of the
plant makes this clean break possible.
Then the skeleton is off, shaking loose tens
of thousands of seeds as it goes.
It turns out, some living things spread their
seeds better when they’re dead.
Like cowboys in a Western, tumbleweeds head
out on the open range.
But these icons of the American West actually
come from the east, all the way from Ukraine.
They’re a common weed in Russia too.
That’s why they’re called Russian thistle.
They might have hitched a ride here in the
eighteen hundreds hidden among flax seeds.
Nowadays, they might amble onto the freeway
and make you swerve.
Or get tangled up in your irrigation system.
They could even roll into your neighborhood,
pile up and become a fire hazard.
But a green lawn isn’t what the tumbleweed
is looking for.
It can’t compete with plants like grass.
It needs a barren place like this abandoned
onion field north of Los Angeles.
With each bounce the tumbleweed sends its
seeds flying.
It spreads them out so they all get plenty
of sunlight and space.
The coiled-up embryo inside just needs a little
water to sprout.
And soon enough, this plant will strike out
on its own.
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Tumbleweeds have an unusual way of getting
around.
Here’s another one.
Watch Deep Look’s episode on pulsating slime
molds.
See you next time!
