A New Giant Tubleweed Is Invading The West

The next "B" horror movie: ATTACK OF THE GIANT TUMBLEWEED.

Much like the movie ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES, but with a thorny plant

There is now a new hybrid tumbleweed out there, massive in size, that will make our lives more miserable than its smaller cousin.

Just like a horror movie, this is TUMBLEWEED: THE SEQUEL!

Yes, this time the tumbleweed has mated with something else and mutated!

Soon they will be as big as your house.

THEN WHAT?

These things popped up recently and many experts thought it was a fluke that would not last. Well, so much for experts.

The period we consider "The Old West" took place between 1865 and 1895.

When we see movies of "The Old West" we usually see a tumbleweed rolling across the scene.

But, in reality, that never happened.

Tumbleweed are not native to The West.

For that matter, they aren't native to North America at all.

They came from Russia.

The actual name is Russian Thistle.

They came to the U.S. because we were importing grain from Russia, and the thistle seed hitched a ride.

Tumbleweeds did not show up in America until 1880.

It took a little while for them to spread across the land.

So, throughout most of the era we think of as The Old West, nobody had ever seen one.

There are far more tumbleweeds around today than there were back then.

And they're getting bigger.

Some have been seen as much as 16 feet tall. NOT KIDDING!

In the video below YouTuber Joe Scott explains:

Perhaps no other plant is as synonymous with the American West as the tumbleweed. But they’re surprisingly new to North America, in fact, they’re an invasive species that didn’t show up until the very end of the “Old West” period.

And they’ve become quite a problem over the years.

Today we’re looking at the tumbleweed, and how it came from the steppes of Russia to become an icon of the American West.

 

Imagine a tumbleweed that starts at 6 feet tall and gets bigger from there.

This is like the movie THE BLOB but with a big weed, and there are lots of them.

Hang with me here, I'm still writing the script in my head.

Imagine seeing one of these mega tumbleweeds coming at you.

Or maybe picture a scene from the old British TV show THE PRISONER where that giant ball envelops the running man.

Your government is working on ways to rid us of these tumbleweeds.

Again, we've seen this movie before.

This will not end well.