Invasive Species
Further information: Kudzu and Kudzu in the United StatesThe natural range of Pueraria montana in east Asia, is the India, Myanmar, Indochina, China, Korea and Japan to Thailand, Malaysia, the Pacific Islands and north Australia.
The American english word "kudzu" is a mispronunciation of the Japanese word for the plant, kuzu.
Like other exotic species, the invasion is due to human actions. It is labeled as an invasive species in many parts of the United States. Kudzu are plants adapted to the drought, only aboveground portions are damaged by frost. It forms new perennial root crowns from stem nodes touching the ground, with thick storage roots growing as deep as 1 m. Pueraria montana with a great capacity of adaptation, find more favorable conditions for development and a similar habitat to their native habitat. The ecological requirements of the species, are those of the subtropical and temperate habitat areas. Like most of their counterparts in the world, it is a vigorous species with a great ability to populate the habitat that is conducive. It responded to favourable climatic periods and expanded across the available habitat. It occur as opportunistic species across wide distribution with close vicariant relatives and few species, indicating the recent divergence of this species. The expansion is favored by seeds spread by mammals and birds.
In Europe Pueraria montana grows in several places in warm regions on Lake Maggiore and Lake Lugano, Switzerland and Italy. During World War II, kudzu was introduced to Vanuatu and Fiji by United States Armed Forces to serve as camouflage for equipment. It is now a major weed. Pueraria montana is also becoming a problem in northeastern Australia. In the United States, Pueraria montana is extensively reported in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Jersey, Oregon, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Of these states, three in the southeast have the heaviest infestations: Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.
Read more about this topic: Pueraria Montana
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