Common Name: kudzu
Family: Fabaceae
Common Synonyms: Pueraria lobata
USDA Hardiness Zone: 5b-11
Growth Habit: Vine
Origin: Eastern Asia
FISC Category: 1
FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: Yes
Introduction Date: 1899
IFAS Assessment:
Climbing, semi-woody, perennial vine up to 30 m in length. Stems can reach the diameter of 10 cm or more. Leaves alternately arranged, compound. Leaflets three, broad, up to 10 cm across, entire or deeply 2-3 lobed, margins hairy. Flowers 1.25 cm long, purple, highly fragrant, and borne in long hanging clusters. Flowering occurs in late summer. Seed pod brown, hairy, flattened, with three to ten seeds.
Wet to dry hardwood forest, sandhill, and scrub
The spread of kudzu in the U.S. is thought to be primarily by runners, rhizomes, and vines that root at the nodes. Kudzu may also spread via seeds. Kudzu can develop a massive tap root up to 18 cm or more in diameter and 2 m or more in length. As many as thirty vines can grow from a single root crown.
NA
Dave's Garden. 2014. PlantFiles: Kudzu, Pueraria montana var. lobata. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/32107/. Accessed on June 18, 2014.
Langeland, K.A., H.M. Cherry, C.M. McCormick, K.C. Burks. 2008. Identification and Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas-Second Edition. IFAS Publication SP 257. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Langeland, K.A., J.A. Ferrell, B. Sellers, G.E. MacDonald, and R.K. Stocker. 2011. Integrated management of non-native plants in natural areas of Florida. EDIS publication SP 242. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.