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Mojave kochia, Mojave red sage, rusty molly

Habit Plants brownish, brownish green, or grayish green, 10–60 cm, densely tomentose.
Stems

erect (rarely ascending), branched throughout;

branches arcuate, ascending or spreading.

Leaves

usually remote, not overlapping, sessile;

blade narrowly ovate, lanceolate, or oblong-linear, flattened, 3–20 × 1.5–3.5 mm, sericeous.

Inflorescences

spicate, or primary axis paniculately branched; 1–4(–5)-flowered in axils of bracts.

Perianth

segments densely tomentose or almost glabrate.

Kochia californica

Phenology Flowering late summer–fall.
Habitat Alkaline soils, deserts, semideserts, eroded mountain slopes, other marginal habitats
Elevation 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV
[WildflowerSearch map]
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 312.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Kochia > sect. Neokochia
Sibling taxa
K. americana, K. scoparia
Synonyms Bassia californica, K. americana var. californica
Name authority S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts. 17: 378. (1882)
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