In the 1870s, Russian Thistle was accidentally introduced to South Dakota by Russian immigrants, but it spread to 100 million acres and became the iconic tumbleweed

Russian thistle first appeared in North America in the 1870s near Bon Homme County, South Dakota, after its seeds seemed to have arrived after mixing with flaxseed brought from the Russian Empire. The plant had spread across much of the American West within a few decades, and by