kudzu (Invasive Plants of Maryland)

kudzu

Pueraria montana

Summary ⁷

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 U

Invasive species ⁸

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 drought. Only above ground 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.

Taxon biology ⁹

Kudzu (Pueraria montana var. lobata) is a climbing, semi-woody, perennial vine in the pea family (Fabaceae).

Deciduous leaves are alternate and compound, with three broad leaflets up to 4 inches across. Leaflets may be entire or deeply 2-3 lobed with hairy margins. Individual flowers, about 1/2 inch long, are purple, highly fragrant and borne in long hanging clusters. Flowering occurs in late summer and is soon followed by production of brown, hairy, flattened, seed pods, each of which contains three to ten hard seeds.

Native to eastern Asia, this invasive vine has colonized much of the southeastern United States, infesting approximately 30,000 sq. km. per year at a cost of over $500 million per year to the US economy in the form of lost crop and forests productivity, expenditures for control, and damage to property. Kudzu kills or degrades other plants by smothering them under a solid blanket of leaves, by girdling woody stems and tree trunks, and by breaking branches or uprooting entire trees and shrubs through the sheer force of its weight.

Once established, kudzu plants grow rapidly, extending as much as 60 feet per season at a rate of about one foot per day. This vigorous vine may extend 32-100 feet in length, with stems 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter. Kudzu roots are fleshy, with massive tap roots 7 inches or more in diameter, 6 feet or more in length, and weighing as much as 400 pounds. As many as thirty (30) vines may grow from a single root crown. Not surprisingly, kudzu is considered one of the 100 worst bioinvaders in the world.

It was first introduced into the U.S. in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, where it was promoted as a forage crop and an ornamental plant. From 1935 to the mid-1950s, farmers in the south were encouraged to plant kudzu to reduce soil erosion, and Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps planted it widely for many years.

For successful long term control, its extensive root system must be destroyed, as any remaining root crowns can lead to reinfestation of an area.

Sources and Credits

(c) 2009 Barry Rice, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=283427&one=T
Carroll, Jan, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), https://www.biolib.cz/IMG/GAL/21675.jpg
(c) Matt Lavin, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/35478170@N08/5182514314
(c) 2009 Barry Rice, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=283428&one=T
(c) 2009 Barry Rice, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=283429&one=T
(c) Ingrid P. Lin, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/services/media.php?env=botany&irn=10292505
Adapted by Kate Wagner from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueraria_montana
(c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueraria_montana
Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/19060897

More Info

Range Map

iNat Map

Flower color	pink

‹ › ×

kudzu

Summary 7

Invasive species 8

Taxon biology 9