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Photographer: Stephen L. Solheim
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Family Chenopodiaceae
Salsola tragus L.
prickly Russian thistle, Russian thistle, tumbleweed
Salsola: from Latin salsus for "salty"
tragus: possibly from Greek tragos, a part of the ear, literally "goat," or from Hieronymous Tragus, the Greek name for Jerome Bock (1498-1554), physician, scholar, and one of the three fathers of German botany
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| Status: | Introduced - naturalized |
| Plant: | erect, annual, 1'- 2 1/2' tall forb with many branches; stems hardening in time, breaking and tumbling with the wind |
| Flower: | greenish, 5-parted, small, no petals; inflorescence of 1 to a few flowers in the upper leaf axils; blooms July-Oct. |
| Fruit: | 5-lobed, papery, cup-shaped, prickly |
| Leaf: | very long and thin |
| Habitat: | dry; disturbed sites; in sandy soil |
| (Glossary) |
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