Flora of North America species comparison

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Kochia americana

red sage
Habit Plants whitish gray or grayish green, 5–35(–50) cm, tomentose-sericeous or almost glabrous.
Stems

erect or ascending, simple or branched only at base;

branches ± erect.
Leaves

sessile, overlapping;

blade linear, terete or semiterete, 4–25 × 0.5–2 mm, sericeous or almost glabrous.
Inflorescences

spicate; 1–4-flowered in axils of bracts.
Perianth

segments white-tomentose or sometimes glabrate.

Kochia americana
Phenology Flowering late summer–fall.
Habitat Alkaline soils, semideserts and deserts, dry lake margins, eroded mountain slopes, sometimes disturbed seminatural habitats
Elevation 500-2100 m (1600-6900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; TX; UT; WY; n Mexico
Discussion

Densely pubescent plants may be recognized as Kochia americana var. vestita S. Watson. Additional study variability and phylogenetic patterns of K. americana would be very desirable.

Previously, this native North American species was erroneously referred to as Kochia prostrata auct. fl. Amer. Bor., non (Linnaeus) Schrader. Indeed, these species are habitually quite similar. Kochia prostrata (Linnaeus) Schrader, the Eurasian subshrub 15–100(–150) cm tall, with linear to filiform, flat or scarcely fleshy leaves 5–25 × 1–2 mm, is known in North American range management literature as “forage kochia” or “prostrate summer-cypress.” It is extremely variable morphologically and widely distributed in Eurasia, especially in steppe, semidesert, and desert zones. This species is being tested and already used locally as a potential forage plant for western United States ranges and has been an escaped or naturalized alien in Utah and adjacent states (W. A. Keller and A. T. Bleak 1974; S. L. Welsh 1984). It was reported as cultivated in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 312.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Kochia > sect. Neokochia
Sibling taxa
K. californica, K. scoparia
Synonyms Bassia americana, K. americana var. vestita, K. vestita
Name authority S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 93. (1874)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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