[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

-— The interesting thing is they were not native to the U.S. but were brought to America by Russian immigrants in the 1890s -—

Cool info. Thanks.

[yarddog]

It is less commonly called “Russian Thistle”.

[Ben Ficklin]

Supposedly, ground zero was Odessa Texas. That was the main camp for the Russian laborers building the railroad, who named the camp Odessa and it became the town/city, just west of Midland, which is called Midland because it is midway between Dallas and El Paso.

[Clinging Bitterly]

Yep, Russian thistle. I am a couple counties south of Clovis and make the trip up there quite often. On Hwy 206, a more or less straight and flat stretch about 84 miles long, the tumbleweeds stack up against the fence line on the east side of the highway all season long, sometimes rolling to the other side if the wind shifts.

There is an 8' chain link fence around the property where I work, and any time the wind blows the SE corner of the yard fills up with them, about like that yard in the photo.

I like hitting them on the highway at full speed, they sort of explode.