A vine, native to China and Japan but imported into the United States; originally planted for decoration, for forage, or as a ground cover to control erosion. It now grows wild in many parts of the southeastern United States.
fast-growing vine from eastern Asia having hairy trifoliate leaves and racemes of purple flowers followed by long many-seed hairy pods and tuberous starchy roots; grown for fodder and forage and root starch; widespread in the southern United States
a purple ground-vine that spreads rapidly
A highly alkalizing root starch. Use it for the healing Kudzu tea, or as a thickener for soups, sauces, or any recipe you might have used corn starch in the past. The book of Kudzu by William Shurtleff & Akiko Aoyagi will tell you a lot. Currently there are wonderful reports of studies looking at using kudzu to cure alcoholism.
Pueraria thunbergiana; an exotic invasive bean vine, originally from China and Japan.
A weak-stemmed vine originally from China and Japan. The roots are dehydrated, pulverized and used to thicken soups and coasting foods to be deep fried.
a white starchy powder made from the root of the kudzu plant; used for thickening soups, sauces, and puddings
Kudzu is a type of legume, a flowering plant that bears its protein-rich seeds in pods and can fix nitrogen from the soil (due to the symbiotic root bacteria rhizobia). Its tubers are edible and the fiber is useful. The plant has a woody stem, wide leaves, and purple flowers. Kudzu is native to Japan and was introduced to the United States around 1876; it soon became a nuisance weed in the southern US. Classification: Kingdom Plantae, class Magnoliopsida, order Rosales, family Leguminosae (pulses), genus Pueraria, specie P. hunbergiana.
Pueraria lobata (syn. P. montana, P. thunbergiana), is one of about 20 species in the genus Pueraria in the pea family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. It is native to southern Japan and southeast China in eastern Asia.
Kudzu is a comic strip by Doug Marlette about rural Southerners. Its main characters are Kudzu Dubose, Nasal T. Lardbottom, Rev.