Tumbleweed = Boring? Not at all! Video footage may show Navalny’s body being transported, but doubts remain

A light gust of wind blows across the steppe and stirs up some sand. Nothing stands far and wide between the two men standing opposite each other, hand on gun, poised, tense, eyes squinted by the hot, unforgiving sun. The tension increases immeasurably. Then: camera change. A single, small thorn bush rolls innocently between the two cowboys.

This scene could be lifted from any generic western movie. These thorny shrubs are called tumbleweeds – in English ‘tumbleweed’ – and are often used as a stylistic device in films: either to symbolize the endlessly wide, empty and wild frontier of the Wild West, or to represent desolate, desolate or boring places. symbolize.

The weekend in South Jordan, Utah, was anything but boring or empty. And it was precisely these tumbleweeds that were responsible for this. The city, nearly 20 miles south of Salt Lake City, was literally inundated with tumbleweeds due to high winds exceeding 60 mph. The photos are spectacular:

Although these videos look cool from a distance, don’t get too close to the tumbleweeds. They are very prickly and can also cause allergic reactions and rashes. They also pose a major fire risk – especially in these masses. The dry brush makes excellent tinder.

For this reason too, they were quickly cleared in South Jordan. Residents cleared their streets with plows and rakes, and city workers collected and carted away the weeds with garbage trucks. It’s not the first “Tumble-Mageddon,” a city spokeswoman said.

Tumbleweed is not American,
just an (unwanted) immigrant

Even though the tumbleweeds may seem very American through their appearances in countless Western films, in reality they are quite the opposite. Ironically, the factory is a Russian immigrant. In 1870, a shipload of flaxseed is said to have arrived in South Dakota. In our luggage – as a stowaway – is the Ruthenian saltwort or “Russian Thistle”.

Since then, tumbleweeds have become the most invasive plant species in the United States. They spread quickly in the Great Plains north of the Rocky Mountains, where they found optimal habitat, writes the National History Museum of the USA. Today the plant can be found in all US states except Alaska and Florida.

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