Plant Classification: forb
Plant Family: Chenopodiaceae, Goosefoot Family
Plant Description: Plants annual; herbaceous; from taproots; herbage glabrous or pilose. Stems stout; usually much branched at base; erect; 100-200 cm tall; turning bright purplish red with age. Leaves alternate; simple; sessile; linear to narrowly lanceolate; margins entire; estipulate. Inflorescences spicate; flowers borne solitary or paired in axils of bracts. Flowers small; inconspicuous; radially symmetrical; perfect or pistillate; pentagonal. Sepals 5; each bearing a minute horizontal wing. Petals absent. Stamens 5. Pistils 1; compound; ovaries superior; stigmas and styles 2-3. Fruits utricles; subglobose. Seeds 1; black or brown; shiny; flattened.
Recognition Blueprint: Kochia is readily recognized by its globose, tumbleweed growth form; narrow, sessile leaves; terminal, bracteate inflorescences, and bright purplish red foliage at the end of the growing season.
Plant Taxonomy and Nomenclature: K. scoparia exhibits considerable variation in its morphological features of indumentation, growth form, and autumn color. Plants grown as ornamentals are generally recognized as var. culta. The native K. americana is a perennial herb from a woody rootstock and has succulent leaves.
Plant Distribution Information: Introduced from Eurasia, K. scoparia is naturalized across the western half of the continent, and in the north, it reach Maine and eastern Canada. Populations are adventive in the southeastern U.S. In Oklahoma, populations are encountered throughout the state, with greatest abundance in the western 2/3.
Plant Ecological Information: Adapted to a variety of soil types and drought tolerant, K. scoparia is a weedy species commonly encountered in any recently disturbed soil such as construction sites, feedlots, rights-of-way, and waste sites. Flowering occurs from late June to October. The abscission layer at the base of the primary stem facilitates seed dispersal as the entire plant with its tumbleweed growth form is blown by the wind. The species is a dominant of the early seral stages of plant succession.
Plant Economic and/or Wildlife Significance: Although traditionally considered a noxious weed, it use as forage, hay, and silage is now being promoted because of its high protein content. However, it must be used carefully because it causes a photosensitization/hepatotoxic syndrome as well as accumulating nitrates. Its foliage may be browsed by wildlife when immature.
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