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Concept
Kudzu
Summary
Kudzu (ˈkuːd.zuː_ˈkʊd-_ˈkʌd-), also called Japanese arrowroot or Chinese arrowroot, is a group of climbing, coiling, and trailing deciduous perennial vines native to much of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and some Pacific islands, but invasive in many parts of the world, primarily North America.
The vine densely climbs over other plants and trees and grows so rapidly that it smothers and kills them by blocking most of the sunlight and taking root space. The plants are in the genus Pueraria, in the pea family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. The name is derived from the Japanese name for the plant East Asian arrowroot, (Pueraria montana var. lobata), クズ/葛. Where these plants are naturalized, they can be invasive and are considered noxious weeds. The plant is edible, but often sprayed with herbicides.
The name kudzu describes one or more species in the genus Pueraria that are closely related, and some of them are considered to be varieties rather than full species. The morphological differences between the subspecies of P. montana are subtle; they can breed with each other, and introduced kudzu populations in the United States apparently have ancestry from more than one of the subspecies. They are:
P. montana
Pueraria montana var. chinensis (Ohwi) Sanjappa & Pradeep (= P. chinensis)
Pueraria montana var. lobata (Willd.) Sanjappa & Pradeep (= P. lobata)
Pueraria montana var. thomsonii (Benth.) Wiersema ex D.B. Ward (= P. thomsonii)
P. edulis
P. phaseoloides – proposed to be moved to Neustanthus
Various other species in Pueraria sensu stricto are also known as "kudzu" with an adjective, but they are not as widely cultivated or introduced.
Kudzu spreads by vegetative reproduction via stolons (runners) that root at the nodes to form new plants and by rhizomes. Kudzu also spreads by seeds, which are contained in pods and mature in the autumn, although this is rare. One or two viable seeds are produced per cluster of pods. The hard-coated seeds can remain viable for several years, and can successfully germinate only when soil is persistently soggy for 5–7 days, with temperatures above 20 °C (68 °F).
Official source
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