Russian Thistle
Salsola tragus · Amaranthaceae
- Height
- 1-4 ft
🚫 Invasive / non-native weed
At a glance
- Tell-tale sign: Round, prickly annual that dries into a tumbleweed
- Where: Disturbed dry soil, roadsides, desert edges, vacant lots
- Why it matters: Spreads seed while tumbling and piles up as dry fuel
How to identify
A much-branched annual that grows into a round, bushy plant with narrow prickly leaves. When mature it dries, breaks off at the base, and tumbles, dropping seed as it rolls.
Why it’s a problem
Russian thistle thrives on bare disturbed soil, competes with native annuals, and creates mobile seed/fuel balls that collect along fences, roads, and drainage lines.
How it spreads
By seed, especially when dry plants tumble in wind.
How to remove it
Pull or hoe young plants before they become woody and spiny. Remove mature plants before they break loose and tumble. Bag or contain seeding plants.
Plant this instead
Cover bare dry soil with natives suited to the site: California Buckwheat, Purple Needlegrass, Deergrass, California Poppy, and Yarrow.
Where it’s spread near you
Sources
Commonly confused with
🌿 Other tumbleweeds / saltbush relatives Russian thistle is the classic spiny, round annual tumbleweed of disturbed dry ground.
🌿 Native saltbushes usually woody shrubs that stay rooted rather than breaking off to tumble.
