<
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Robin Hubert writes:
>
> >>> I used them back in the day, and they seemed pretty effective at knocking off goathead thorns
> >>> before they punctured the tube. They were not at all effective at preventing glass, staple,
> >>> wire, or thumbtack punctures.
>
> >> You must have been riding nearly flat tires because a puncture vine thorn is a spine standing
> >> on a tetrahedron that is so sharp that lightly laying the palm of the hand on the roadside vine
> >> will have them stick in your skin painlessly, it requires so little pressure. If you have more
> >> than 50 psi in your tire, the thorn will penetrate practically to its final depth on the first
> >> contact. The only ones you could effectively knock off are ones on the sides of the tire
that
> >> would otherwise penetrate on the first corner taken.
>
> >>
http://www.or.blm.gov/Prineville/weed/puncture.htm http://tinyurl.com/d0xo
> >>
http://www.cwma.org/puncturevine.html
> >>
http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0801+0392
>
> > Now that I know what this beast looks like I'd like to know the distribution of it in the U.S.
> > We don't seem to have it in Illinois and the Midwest. Any links?
>
> The trouble is that Tribulus Terrestris is cure-all for quacks and has many listings in that
> field, making it hard to find sites that discuss the plant biologically. It grows in all
> continents and thrives on barren soil. That is why it is common on western roadsides that are
> sprayed to suppress growth of flammable weeds. Puncture vine germinates after other plants have
> sprouted and gone and it grows only where there are no competitors.
>
> It is my observation that it sprouts only after the first real hot spell of sumer has passed,
> followed by some thunder showers here in California where we have essentially no rain all summer.
> Roundup (c) does not kill it either, so late spraying only prevents competitors from returning but
> allows its growth.
>
>
http://pi.cdfa.ca.gov/weedinfo/TRIBULUS2.html
The link indicates that glyphosate (RoundUp) is effective on puncture vine. -- Jay Beattie.