Kudzu is a twining perennial vine that belongs to the family Fabaceae (also called Leguminosae), the pea family of flowering plants. The kudzu is a useful fodder crop for livestock as well as an attractive ornamental. However, the plant has become a rampant weed in parts of the southeastern United States, since it readily spreads over trees and shrubs as well as exposed soil. The scientific name of kudzu is Pueraria montana.
Kudzu is a fast-growing woody, somewhat hairy vine that may grow to a length of 60 feet (18 meters) in one season. It has large leaves and produces late-blooming reddish purple flowers and flat hairy seed pods.
Kudzu is native to China and Japan, where it was long grown for its edible starchy roots and for a fiber made from its stems. The Japanese government sent the plant to North America in the late 1800s as an ornamental. People soon began to plant it in their gardens. In the 1930s and ’40s, the U.S. government encouraged farmers to plant kudzu to anchor steep banks of soil and thereby prevent erosion.
Sometimes referred to as “the vine that ate the South,” kudzu is now considered an invasive species in the United States. It quickly covers any plants in its way, often depriving them of sunlight and thereby killing them. Kudzu also wraps around trees, and the heavy vines can break branches and uproot the trees. Northern winters tend to kill the plant’s stems but allow the roots to survive. Control methods include herbicide sprays and manual cutting and mowing. In some areas goats and sheep are brought in to eat the vine.