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Pueraria montana
Also called Kudzu Vine, Japanese Arrowroot
Kudzu is a fast-growing, vigorous climbing vine (Pueraria montana) native to East Asia, and the name is also used for close relatives in the same genus. It is famous for smothering landscapes in warm climates and is grown in its native range for its starchy root and fiber.
Pueraria montana, more commonly known as kudzu, 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 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 United States have ancestry from more than one of the species.
Kudzu has been referred to as a "quasi-wild" species, since it has been farmed and selectively bred by humans for millennia in its native range, but cultivated strains have never become isolated from wild populations, resulting in repeated interchanges between wild and farmed kudzu. As a result, the gene pool of kudzu is diverse, vigorous, and strongly influenced by the plant's relationship with humans. The main uses of kudzu are for food, for fiber, and as a medicinal plant; it is also used to make paper, for basketry, and as a food source for livestock.
Pueraria mirifica · Kudzu · Kudzu · Kudzu
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pueraria montana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
