Plants Index
Air-Potato
Dioscorea bulbifera
Bamboo
Several non-native genera
Brazilian Peppertree
Schinus terebinthifolius
Callery pear
Pyrus calleryana
Chinese Privet
Ligustrum sinense
Chinese Tallow Tree
Triadica sebifera
Cogongrass
Imperata cylindrica
Japanese Climbing Fern
Lygodium japonicum
Japanese Stiltgrass
Microstegium vimineum
Johnson Grass
Sorghum halepense
Kudzu
Pueraria lobata
Thorny Olive
Elaeagnus pungens
Tree of Heaven
Ailanthus altissima
James Miller & Ted Bodner, Southern Weed Science Society, Bugwood.org

The history and use of kudzu in the southeastern United States

Alabama Cooperative Extension System, 2014
N.J. Loewenstein and S.F. Enloe

This vine was introduced from Japan to the U.S. in 1876 as an ornamental plant, and was later promoted as a natural way to mitigate soil erosion.  In fact, farmers in the southern U.S. were paid to plant kudzu on over one million acres.  Not surprisingly, kudzu is established throughout the southeastern U.S., and is moving to the Midwest and Northeast.  Kudzu spreads primary by runners (vegetative shoots) that root at the nodes; spread by seed is rare.  Kudzu rapidly grows over anything in its path, and commonly covers entire mature trees in a blanket of vines.  This plant can suppress native plant growth and prevent other plants from growing across large areas where it is established.  Management is difficult, but can be accomplished by removal of the root crown (a knobby mass of tissue at or just under the soil surface), repeated mowing (this depletes the plant of nutrients), or herbicides.  Often, multiple methods are required to effectively manage kudzu.  Biological control methods are being tested, and some (including a beetle and fungal spray) do show promise as potential management options.

 
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