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.

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Etymology

Origin of Russian thistle

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Russian thistle

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 southeast wind hurled tumble weeds and Russian thistle through the air at a twenty-nine-mile gait, and the gait went too.

From The Scrap Book, Volume 1, No. 4 June 1906 by Various