2006-12-24 15:37:00 · 14 answers · asked by Evil Atheist Conspirator 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
to confound and puzzle stupid people with out a life or the intelligence to ask real questions
2006-12-24 17:58:02 · answer #1 · answered by neil j 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Like so many things in Our Great Land, this is another case where there's more than one thing that has been given the same name. "Tumbleweed" is not one specific plant, though there is technically only one plant that bears that name, a type of Amaranth (a name you may recognize now that some folks are using certain types of amaranth seeds to make flour). The species Amaranthus albus is the tumbleweed. It's a little shrubby weed common to a fair portion of North America, especially drier areas. Nothing special when alive, it has tiny, greenish flowers and small leaves.
This plant, like the other "tumbleweeds," will blow and roll around after the plant dies and dries up since they commonly have the stem base snap. This appears to be something that has evolved due to the benefits of having the seeds dispersed along with the dead plant. As a tumbleweed rolls, it drops seeds as it goes, so it spreads to new territory easily. There's a tendency for seeds in the middle of the ball to get trapped there, but a good rainfall will cause the dried branches to unfold a bit, and often a large number of seeds will get dumped at once--and watered at the same time. Nice trick, showing that plants effectively invented the wheel long before we did.
2006-12-25 04:43:42 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Have you ever seen a tumbleweed? The are very bushy, but very, very light. They are also very brittle. When they have finished blossoming and the leaves wither and die, the plant will snap off at the base, and what drops off looks like a big old ball of very light twigs that the wind rolls, or tumbles, along the ground. That's how the tumbleweed spreads its seeds.
2006-12-24 23:41:12 · answer #3 · answered by old lady 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Answer: With a name like tumbleweeds, what would you EXPECT them to do?
Actually, have you ever seen one IRL? They're pretty cool. Even thought about putting a few in the trunk and giving them out as presents...til I realized that they pretty much disintegrate with just a bit of pressure.
2006-12-24 23:41:54 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because God said "Let tumbleweeds tumble"... and they did.
2006-12-24 23:40:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Dead bushes that dislodge from the ground. They go round and round and round till a car hits them and they explode scratching the car all up.
2006-12-24 23:56:16 · answer #6 · answered by Speed Of Thought 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They're round and the wind blows them around !
2006-12-24 23:39:47 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Cause they are round and the wind blows.
love and blessings Don
2006-12-24 23:48:08 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
A combination of evolution to match the area they grow in, and the fact that GOD made them this way.
old lady and Terry C saved me the long explanation, thanks.
2006-12-25 14:22:05 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They're practicing for the olympics.
2006-12-25 01:08:39 · answer #10 · answered by Phil 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋