Russian Thistle
Salsola tragus
Found in disturbed areas. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 41%
- Height
- 4 inches–3 feet 4 inches
- Soil moisture
- Somewhat dry to average
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Annual
Not yet recorded · Spread · Light · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 12 Virginia counties.
Habitats
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats
Who uses this plant?
7CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA
Genus host records with ranges including VA · Salsola
- Agrotis ipsilonIpsilon Dart, Black Cutworm, Greasy Cutworm
- Anarta trifoliiThe Nutmeg, Clover Cutworm
- Euxoa detersaRubbed Dart, Sandhill Cutworm
- Hyles lineataWhite-Lined Sphinx
- Platynota stultanaOmnivorous Leafroller
- Spilosoma virginicaVirginian Tiger Moth, Yellow Woolybear Moth, Yellow Bear
- Uresiphita reversalisGenista Caterpillar, Genista Cbroom Moth
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
3BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Salsola
- Callipepla gambeliiGambel's Quail
- Plectrophenax nivalisSnow Bunting
- Tympanuchus pallidicinctusLesser Prairie-Chicken
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Plant details
- Family
- Chenopodiaceae
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Height · “4 inches–3 feet 4 inches” · Minnesota Wildflowers
- Life cycle · “Annual” · Minnesota Wildflowers
Conservation status
| Virginia rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | GNR |
| VA status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
- USDA PLANTS
- FloraQuest: Northern Tier (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications