kudzu vine

/kood"zooh/

a fast-growing Chinese and Japanese climbing vine, Pueraria lobata, of the legume family, now widespread in the southern U.S., having tuberous, starchy roots and stems: used for fiber, as food and forage, and to prevent soil erosion. Also called kudzu.

[1900-05; < Japn kuzu, earlier kudu, of uncert. orig.]

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Fast-growing, twining, perennial, woody vine (Pueraria lobata, or P. thunbergiana) belonging to the pea family (see legume).

Transplanted from its native China and Japan to North America in the 1870s as an attractive ornamental that could be planted on steep soil banks to prevent erosion, kudzu has become a rampant weed in much of the southeastern U.S, where it readily spreads to form great canopies over trees, shrubs, and exposed soil. Roots survive even northern winters, and the hairy vine grows to a length of 60 ft (18 m) in one season. It has large leaves, late-blooming reddish-purple flowers, and flat, hairy seedpods. In its native range kudzu is grown for its edible, starchy roots and for a fiber made from its stems. It is also useful as a fodder or cover crop.

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▪ plant

 (Pueraria lobata, or P. thunbergiana), twining perennial vine that is a member of a genus belonging to the family Leguminosae. The kudzu is a fast-growing, woody, somewhat hairy vine that may grow to a length of 18 m (60 feet) in one season. It has large leaves, long racemes with late-blooming reddish purple flowers, and flat, hairy seed pods. The plant is native to China and Japan, where it was long grown for its edible, starchy roots and for a fibre made from its stems. The kudzu was transplanted to North America with the intention of using it to anchor steep banks of soil and thereby prevent erosion. The plant has become a rampant weed in parts of the southeastern United States, however, since it readily spreads over trees and shrubs as well as exposed soil. The kudzu vine is a useful fodder crop for livestock, however, as well as an attractive ornamental. Northern winters tend to kill the plant's stems but allow the roots to survive.

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