Camelthorn not a good weed
Our next noxious weed has an interesting name, camelthorn (Alhagi maurorum). The name comes from the fondness camels have for eating this plant in its native range in the Middle East. If you’ve ever seen this plant, you might wonder how it could be palatable to anything; the stems are covered in long thorns!
Camelthorn is a perennial with an extensive root system. In fact, camelthorn may have a deeper root system than any other plant. A camelthorn plant that is about four feet tall may have a root that goes down more than six feet. In addition, new plants can sprout up 20 feet away from the parent plant. So as you can imagine, having such a deep and extensive root system makes controlling this plant very difficult. Because camelthorn’s root system is able to go down so far into the ground, it is very well adapted to arid areas; its long roots can grab up ground water and sustain the plants aboveground. Camelthorn also has a wide soil tolerance, able to survive in sandy, saline and dry soils.
As mentioned in the name, this plant does indeed have a good set of thorns on it. Being a member of the pea family, or also known as the Fabaceae family, camelthorn has characteristics of a pea flower. This means that each flower is composed of five petals that form what are called the banner, wings and keel. The top most petal is the largest, and is called the banner. Two petals wrap in from the left and right sides, and are called wings. The last two petals are inside of the wings and are fused together at the tips, and are called the keel.
Because camelthorn is in the pea family, it can be worrisome for alfalfa growers as the seeds are the same size, shape and weight so they cannot effectively be separated. In fact, this is how camelthorn reached North America was in alfalfa seed.
Camelthorn is fairly distinctive, which makes identifying this noxious weed fairly easy. Basically, if you see a man-sized shrub with reddish flowers and long thorns all over, there is a good chance that it’s camelthorn. In Washington state, this plant is only known to exist in Grant and Adams counties, so as you can see, it is imperative to control this weed as quickly as possible to prevent spread.
Please contact the Noxious Weed Control Board of Grant County at (509) 754-2011, Ext. 4710, for help with identification or controlling this or any other noxious weed on your property.