你想知道的關于風滾草的一切

你想知道的關于風滾草的一切

Like cowboys, wagon trains and buffalo, tumbleweeds are icons of the Old West. These twisted balls of dead foliage rolling across deserts and the open range are staples of Western movies and the American imagination.

像牛仔、馬車隊和水牛一樣，風滾草是舊西部的象征。這些扭曲的死樹葉滾過沙漠和開闊的牧場是西方電影和美國人想象的主要內容。

Love them or hate them, tumbleweeds have been a regular fixture in the American West for more than 100 years. (Photo: Jez Arnold [CC BY-SA 2.0]/Flickr)

But the truth about tumbleweeds isn’t so simple. They may be romantic symbols of our national love affair with the Wild West, but tumbleweeds are also invasive weeds called Russian thistle, and many modern-day Westerners fear they’re taking over.

但關于風滾草的真相并非如此簡單。風滾草可能是我們國家與蠻荒的西部之間愛情的浪漫象征，但它也是一種被稱為俄羅斯薊的入侵性雜草，許多現代西方人擔心它們正在接管。

How they got here

他們是如何來到這里的

In 1873, Russian immigrants arrived in South Dakota carrying flax seed that was apparently contaminated with Russian thistle seeds (Salsola tragus). Once sown, these invaders from another continent quickly sprouted, unhampered by natural predators and diseases to keep them in check. Each winter after Russian thistle plants die, the brittle bushy parts snap off at the roots and blow away, dispersing seeds wherever they tumble (about 250,000 per plant).

1873年，俄羅斯移民攜帶亞麻種子抵達南達科他州，亞麻種子顯然被俄羅斯薊種子污染了。一旦播種，這些來自另一個大陸的入侵者就會迅速發(fā)芽，不受自然捕食者和疾病的限制。每年冬天，俄羅斯薊植物死后，脆弱而濃密的部分從根部折斷，被風吹走，種子四處散落(大約每株25萬顆)。

Because Russian thistle thrives on little precipitation and easily exploits disturbed land stripped of native species, it was able to quickly take hold in the vast agricultural fields and overgrazed rangelands of the arid West. By the end of the 1800s, this intruder had already rolled its way across most western states and into Canada, carried by wind and even railroad cars.

由于俄羅斯薊生長茂盛，降水量少，而且很容易利用被破壞的土地，破壞的土地上沒有本土物種，所以它能夠很快在廣闊的農田和干旱的西部牧場上扎根。到19世紀末，這個入侵者已經通過風，甚至火車車廂，穿越了大部分西部州，進入了加拿大。

A government botanist sent to investigate in the early 1890s could barely believe his eyes: "One almost continuous area of about 35,000 square miles has become more or less covered with the Russian thistle in the comparatively brief period of twenty years."

一位在19世紀90年代初被派去調查的政府植物學家?guī)缀醪桓蚁嘈抛约旱难劬?“在相對較短的20年里，一個大約35000平方英里的幾乎連續(xù)不斷的地區(qū)或多或少地被俄羅斯薊覆蓋了。”

Life of a tumbleweed

風滾草的生命

Tumbleweeds can grow several feet high. (Photo: miheco [CC BY-SA 2.0]/Flickr)

When we think of tumbleweeds we rarely picture fledgling Russian thistle bushes, which many consider beautiful with their reddish purple striped stems, tender leaves and delicate flowers. Growing from six inches to three feet tall (with some sprouting to Volkswagen Beetle size), they later develop sharp spines.

當我們想到風滾草時，我們很少會想到初生的俄羅斯薊灌木，許多人認為它們是美麗的，有著紅紫色條紋的莖、嫩葉和嬌嫩的花朵。它們從6英寸長到3英尺高(有些還長出了像大眾甲殼蟲那么大的刺，后來就長出了鋒利的刺。

Many animal species feed on the succulent new shoots, including mule deer, pronghorn, prairie dogs and birds. Russian thistle hay actually saved cattle from starvation during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s when other feed wasn’t available.

許多動物物種以多汁的新芽為食，包括騾鹿、叉角羚、土撥鼠和鳥類。在20世紀30年代的沙塵暴期間，俄羅斯的薊草實際上拯救了饑餓的牛，當時沒有其他飼料。

Russian thistle is beautiful in bloom before it dries up and tumbles away. (Photo: miheco [CC BY-SA 2.0]/Flickr)

But there’s a down side. Tumbleweeds have never stopped spreading. Nearly every state in the U.S. is now home to Russian thistle, as well as several newer tumbleweed species that arrived as immigrants from around the world.

但也有不利的一面。雜草從未停止蔓延。現在，美國幾乎每個州都有俄羅斯薊，以及一些來自世界各地的新移民種的風滾草。

The ongoing drought out West has been a particular boon for these ubiquitous raiders, launching a recent explosion of prickly spheres rolling across mesas and through canyons and towns, and even creating a new giant hybrid species that’s currently sweeping across California.

對于這些無處不在的襲擊者來說，西部持續(xù)的干旱是一個特別的福音，最近引發(fā)了一場爆炸，多刺的球體在梅薩斯地區(qū)、峽谷和城鎮(zhèn)、甚至克里亞地區(qū)滾動。這是一種新的巨型雜交物種，目前正在席卷加利福尼亞。