Salsola tragus

Common card · No. 235851

Salsola tragus, often known by its synonym Kali tragus, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae. It is known by various common names such as prickly Russian thistle, windwitch, or common saltwort. It is widely known simply as tumbleweed because, in many regions of the United States, it is the most common and most conspicuous plant species that produces tumbleweeds. Informally, it may be known as Kali or Salsola: the latter being its restored genus, containing 54 other species, into which the obsolete genus Kali has been subsumed. For a brief period during its youth, it may be grazed, but afterward it becomes too spiny and woody to be edible for most wildlife and livestock (unless processed first). Mature specimens are often more than a meter in diameter. As its fruits mature, the diaspore of the plant dies, dries, hardens, and detaches from its root. This detached anatomical part of Salsola tragus is colloquially called "tumbleweed" (although there are many other plant...

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