IDENTIFICATION
Regional Noxious. Annual.
Kochia is a many-branched plant with a pyramidal shape. It has
numerous, stalkless, narrow leaves with soft hairs on the undersides.
The leaves often turn purple in the autumn. It bears inconspicuous flowers
in the angles between the leaves and stem. Mature plants grow to 1.5 m.
DAMAGE
Livestock will eat kochia, which sometimes contains high nitrate
levels and sulphate toxicity. It spreads rapidly, may suppress other vegetation,
and can invade undisturbed sites when growing conditions are ideal. It
is rarely a problem in vigorous stands of perennial grasses.
HABITAT
Kochia is common in dry areas of the Interior on roadsides, in
ditches, and in disturbed habitats. It can also be found on grasslands,
flood plains, river bank areas, and in desert shrub communities. It is
frequent in south central British Columbia, but rare in southwestern and
northwestern regions, and considered a major concern to agriculture only
in the Peace River area.
SPREAD
Typically, a single plant will produce 14,000 seeds per year which will
only survive one year. Seed is spread when plants are broken off at the
stem and tumbled by the wind.
