1. Guides
  2. Invasive Exotic Plants of North Carolina
  3. Kudzu

Kudzu

Pueraria montana

Summary 5

Pueraria montana is a species of plant in the botanical family Fabaceae. At least three sub-species (alternatively called varieties) are known. It is closely related to other species in the genus Pueraria (P. edulis and P. phaseoloides) and the common name kudzu is used for all of these species and hybrids between them. The morphological differences between them are subtle, they can breed with each other, and it appears that introduced kudzu populations in the United States have ancestry from more than one of the species.

Invasive species 5

The natural range of Pueraria montana in east Asia, is the India, Myanmar, Indochina, China, Korea and Japan to Thailand, Malaysia, the Pacific Islands and north Australia. In its native habitat, it and closely related species occur across wide areas; the species have diverged genetically due to vicariance.

Like other exotic species, the introduction to other areas is due to human actions. Seeds are spread by mammals and birds. Kudzu are plants adapted to the drought. Only aboveground portions are damaged by frost; thick storage roots grow as deep as 1 metre. It forms new perennial root crowns from stem nodes touching the ground. The ecological requirements of the species are those of the subtropical and temperate habitat areas.

In Europe, Pueraria montana grows in several places in warm regions of Switzerland and Italy near Lake Maggiore and Lake Lugano.

During World War II, kudzu was introduced to Vanuatu and Fiji by United States Armed Forces to serve as camouflage for equipment. It is now a major weed there.

Pueraria montana is also becoming a problem in northeastern Australia.

In the United States, Pueraria montana is extensively reported in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Jersey, Oregon, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Of these states, three in the southeast have the heaviest infestations: Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Steven J. Baskauf, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/baskauf/28369
  2. (c) Matt Lavin, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/35478170@N08/5182514314
  3. (c) Charlie Hohn, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Charlie Hohn
  4. (c) Rob Curtis, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), uploaded by Rob Curtis
  5. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueraria_montana

More Info

iNat Map

Member of the iNaturalist Network   |   Powered by iNaturalist open source software |   Documentation for developers