Today here's a lighhearted look at a silly thing that you might not see, or not really know about, if you seldom venture beyond the city limits. I'm talkin' bout tumbleweeds. I knew about 'em, but if I ever saw one, it was way back in my youth on a cross country trip with my parents years ago. Out "in the countryside" you'll find 'em rolled up on the roadside, or hugging a fenceline.

Salsola (also known as Tumbleweed, Saltwort or Russian thistle) is a genus of herbs, subshrubs, shrubs and small trees in the family Amaranthaceae. They typically grow on flat, often dry and/or somewhat saline soils, with some species in saltmarshes. Recent genetic studies have however shown that the genus as traditionally circumscribed is paraphyletic, and many species are likely to be transferred to other genera in the future.

In several annual species, those known popularly as "tumbleweeds", the plants break away from their roots in the autumn, and are driven by the wind as a light, rolling mass, scattering seed far and wide. The seeds are produced in such large numbers that the plant has not developed protective coatings or food reserves for the coiled plant embryos. The deep, ineradicable taproot survives to grow again the following season.