Tumbleweed

desert plants · wind power · plant seeds

Plants that roll. Tumbleweeds are plants that dry out completely and snap off at the roots, then roll across the ground pushed by wind. They travel far from where they started, spreading their seeds to new places as they go.

Wind does the work. The plant doesn't choose to roll around. Instead, the force of the wind pushes the dried plant across the land, and the bumpy shape helps it bounce and tumble easily.

Seed spreading trick. As the tumbleweed rolls and bounces, seeds fall out along the way. This is actually a clever plan by the plant to scatter its babies across a huge area instead of dropping them all in one spot.

Desert survivors. Many tumbleweed species grow in dry, windy places like deserts and grasslands where regular plants can't survive. The rolling habit helps them spread in wide open spaces with few other plants around.

Many plant types. Tumbleweed isn't just one plant, it's the name for many different plant species that all share this rolling habit. Some of the most famous ones come from Asia but now grow in North America too.