Fall flowers: kochia

Kochia may not be a flower exactly, but they are an ornamental plant. Kochia are also called summer cypress or burning bush. You can actually see them from summer. But in summer they are green. I think they are most adorned when they are flaming red, which is usually around October in Japan. The most famous place for kochia in Japan is probably Hitachi Seaside park, where they have approximately 33,000 kochia bushes. But as it is a popular plant in Japan, you can also usually see it here and there in gardens and parks around Japan. 

I personally do like them the most when they are flaming red, but I think they also look very photogenic when they are pink too, like the photo above. They go from vibrant green to greenish-pink to pink to purply red and then finally flaming red. As they die they turn a brownish color. Right now they seem to be at the pink stage in many places. It will depend on the region, but in a lot of places they are the vibrant red at the end of October.

Kochia are also called kochia in Japanese, spelt Kokia コキア. But it is also known as ‘hokigusa’ in Japan. Hokigusa literally means "broom grass". "Hoki" is broom and "gusa (kusa)" is grass. Evidently, kokia is used for making brooms in Japan. What I only found out recently is that Kochia can also produce edible nuts! (But kochia grown for ornamental purposes don't). They are known as ‘tonburi’ , reportedly a speciality of Akita Prefecture. In Japan, Tonburi is called the 'caviar of the field’ due to the shape, colour and texture which supposedly resembles caviar. 

Have you ever seen the Kochia in Ibaraki Seaside Park? Or any other impressive Kochia flower displays?