Russian thistle

American  

noun

1. a saltwort, Salsola kali tenuifolia, that has narrow, spinelike leaves, a troublesome weed in the central and western U.S.

---

Etymology

Origin of Russian thistle

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95

Example Sentences

And since each sphere, though itself dead, seldom carries fewer than 150,000 fertile seeds, and sometimes as many as a quarter of a million, every tumbler leaves a vast wake of potential Russian thistle plants.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 17, 2025

Saturday’s tumbleweed takeover of South Jordan is not isolated, but it’s also not a fiendish plan by the invasive Russian thistle to conquer the western United States.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 5, 2024

The exhibit includes an actual tumbleweed, or Russian thistle, a plant immigrants brought to South Dakota in 1873.

From Washington Times • Apr. 17, 2016

He noted with dismay invasive plants left behind by overgrazing: tumbleweed, Russian thistle, cheatgrass.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 14, 2016

A weed like the Russian thistle, for instance, will defy all usual means for its extermination.

From Inventions in the Century by Doolittle, William Henry