17. Kochia Roth, J. Bot. (Schrader). 1800(1): 307. 1801.
[For W. D. J. Koch, 1771-1849, German naturalist and physician]
Sergei L. Mosyakin
Bassia Allioni sect. Kochia (Roth) A. J. Scott
Herbs and subshrubs, annual or perennial, glabrous or densely tomentose-sericeous. Stems erect, ascending, or prostrate, simple or branched, not jointed, not armed, not fleshy; branches alternate [proximal sometimes almost opposite]. Leaves alternate [rarely proximal almost opposite], sessile (sometimes narrowed into pseudopetiole); blade obovate-lanceolate, lanceolate, linear, or filiform, flat or semiterete, base truncate, margins entire, apex rounded. Inflorescences terminal, spicate or paniculately branched; flowers solitary or in 2-5-flowered clusters in axils of bracts; bracts leaflike. Flowers bisexual or pistillate, sessile; perianth segments 5, with horizontal, membranous wing [sometimes reduced to slightly winged tubercles] adaxially; stamens 5; stigmas 2-3. Fruiting structures: perianth covering utricles at maturity, utricles compressed-spheric or compressed-elliptic; pericarp free or nearly so, membranous. Seeds wedge-shaped; seed coat dull brown, slightly ribbed; embryo annular; perisperm copious. x = 9.
Species 13-16 (3 in the flora): North America, Eurasia, Africa; some species nearly worldwide (as introduced).
Kochia occurs mostly in steppe, desert, and semidesert zones.
SELECTED REFERENCE
Blackwell, W. H., M. D. Baechle, and G. Williamson. 1978. Synopsis of Kochia (Chenopodiaceae) in North America. Sida 7: 248-254.
