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 1910, it was estimated to occupy about 100 million acres of arid and semi-arid land. Today, the plant is better known as the tumbleweed.
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