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How to Manage Pests

Identification: Weed Photo Gallery

Kochia

Scientific name: Kochia scoparia (Goosefoot Family: Chenopodiaceae)

Life stages of Kochia top picture bottom left picture bottom right picture

Click on image to enlarge

DESCRIPTION:
Kochia, a summer annual broadleaf, is difficult to differentiate from fivehook bassia. Seedlings emerge in spring and have thick, dull green leaves above and magenta undersides. Cotyledons (seed leaves) range from linear to narrowly lance-shaped and are hairless. Subsequent leaves are narrowly lance-shaped, gray-green, covered with long soft white hairs, and form a small rosette. Mature plant is 2 to 5 feet (60 - 150 cm) tall, usually branched from the base, compared to fivehook bassia's branching along the main stem. Small, inconspicuous flowers are borne in clusters at the ends of branches and bases of leaves. Kochia is found most commonly on saline soils of California's Central Valley, southern desert, and coastal growing areas.

Broadleaf ID illustration.


Statewide IPM Program, Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California
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For noncommercial purposes only, any Web site may link directly to this page. FOR ALL OTHER USES or more information, read Legal Notices. Unfortunately, we cannot provide individual solutions to specific pest problems. See How to manage pests, or in the U.S., contact your local Cooperative Extension office for assistance. /PMG/WEEDS/kochia.html revised: November 17, 2008. Contact webmaster.