Matures Russian

Russian thistle is a bushy summer annual with numerous slender ascending stems that become quite woody at maturity. Stems vary from 8 to 36 inches in length and usually have reddish to purplish stripes. Seedlings have very finely dissected leaves that almost look like pine needles. Leaves of young plants are fleshy, dark green, narrow, and about 1 inch in length. Young plants are suitable for livestock forage and are sometimes grazed. As the plant matures in July through October, the older leaves become short and stiff with a sharp-pointed tip. The single, inconspicuous flowers lack petals and are borne above a pair of small spine-tipped bracts (a small modified leaf at the base of the flower) in most leaf axils (where the narrow leaves meet the stem). The bracts and spiny leaves prevent predation by herbivores as the plant nears maturity. The overall shape of the plant becomes oval to round and at maturity can attain a diameter of 18 inches to 6 feet or more under favorable soil moisture and fertility conditions. After the plant dries, the base of the stem becomes brittle and breaks off at soil level in fall and early winter. These round, spiny plants are capable of dispersing seed for miles as they tumble along in the wind. This dispersal characteristic has led to the more commonly used name of tumbleweed.

matures russian

The Russian thistle plant is extremely drought tolerant. The taproot can extend several feet into the soil to reach subsurface moisture. Early leaves are linear and fleshy, much like pine needles, but as the plant matures, later leaves are short and spiny and much more capable of conserving moisture. Russian thistle normally matures in late summer. The seed is spread when mature plants detach at the base and are blown along by the wind. A large Russian thistle plant may produce more than 200,000 seeds. In spring, months after their dissemination, it is possible to trace the paths of tumbleweeds across plowed fields by the green trails of germinating Russian thistle seedlings. 041b061a72