Photo - T.A.M.U.

The Russian Thistle is a noxious European import that has gone wild across parts of the United States, particularly in the west. It prefers to grow in disturbed areas, especially along roadways. Depending on rainfall, it can grow quite large. After a killing freeze in the fall it quickly dries and can easily be detached from its brittle anchor stem by a good gust of wind. Once free from its shackles, it takes off with the wind tumbling along and distributing seeds everywhere it passes. You have not really experienced life until you have been attacked by one of these monsters as you drive along our local roadways. This can be especially frightening at night when, under cover of darkness, they sneak up on you and devour your car. I remember a cold, windy night a good many years back. A good friend and I were driving along a narrow, rocky road in the mountains near Bingham, New Mexico, in my friend's VW bug. Suddenly we were am-BUSHED by a huge tumbleweed flying off the mountainside. I do believe we both wet our pants.

During the windy season these pesky weeds can build up huge piles along fence lines and pose a real fire danger as it takes only a spark to cause an explosive inferno.

Locals learn to live with these beasts and sometimes decorated them as Christmas trees or build a "Texas Snowman" that they then spray with white paint or tree flocking.