A tribute to kudzu
Walking down Spring Street last weekend, I was surprised to see kudzu (Pueraria lobata var. montana) trailing down a driveway. The main vegetative part of the plant wrangled with a mass of blooming Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) creating a Mega Godzilla versus Godzilla battle of the most feared invasive aliens.
For me, it was just fun to see a little bit of kudzu trailing down a driveway. So, I snapped a picture with my iPhone and posted it on social media, where you would think that I had just unleashed the first news report of a new strain of coronavirus. There seems to be an attitude about weeds that I muse is rather simplistic – “native plants are good, foreign plants are bad.”
Nature doesn’t think that way. A study published just last week in Nature Communications, “Economic use of plants is key to their naturalization success,” concludes that economic plants (grown by humans with a purpose) are 18 times more likely to become established beyond their native lands. In other words, humans are the exogenous vector. And so it is with kudzu.
Kudzu, introduced into the United States from Japan prior to 1876, was on prominent display at the country’s centennial exhibition for its potential as a food, fodder, and fiber plant. From 1910–1953, USDA pushed it as a new hay and fodder crop. The Soil Conservation Service planted it for erosion control. By 1945, it covered 500,000 acres in the Southeast. And the rest, as they say, is history. And yes, it is certainly out of control.
In its homeland, China, the root, ge-gen, is a drug, still official in the Chinese Pharmacopeia. Tablets made from the root extract treat angina, relieve thirst and treat hypertensive headaches, among many other uses. Preparations of the root or flowers can sober up a drunk.
Some might think I’m drunk as I write this, but no, I just have an appreciation for the history of human interaction with kudzu. Don’t blame the kudzu. It didn’t invade this land without the help of human invaders. Today, we could plant it around offensive statues, and the kudzu itself would cover them, without the need to tear them down – botanical social justice.
I wonder if there’s a USDA grant program for that?