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• n  fast-growing vine from eastern Asia having tuberous starchy roots and hairy trifoliate leaves and racemes of purple flowers followed by long hairy pods containing many seeds; grown for fodder and forage and root starch; widespread in the southern United States

• Kudzu is a flowering, ropelike vine, first introduced from Asia in 1876.
• Says he: "Driving through kudzu-covered country on a Sunday morning and flipping the radio dial, one can hear the evangelists by the score.
• Ever since the Japanese introduced the kudzu vine to America at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, the broad-leafed creeper has been a much maligned nuisance.

• kudzu vine
• Pueraria lobata

News & Articles

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• Get the vacuum to the kudzu bug
  Question: How can I get rid of these bugs on my bean plants? Answer: This invader is known as the bean plataspid. This new insect is more commonly being referred to as the kudzu bug. It feeds on...
  June 11, 2013 - Sampson Independent
• Kudzu bugs eat kudzu (good) and a lot of other plants (bad)
  You'd think something that eats kudzu would be a good thing to have around. Unfortunately, as with most things in life, you have to accept the good along with the bad. The good, bad (and ugly) in question is the kudzu bug.
  June 7, 2013 - The Biloxi Sun Herald
• Kudzu Playhouse in Hernando takes on Grimm's frolic, fears
  Kudzu production of "Into The Woods" will feature an 11-year-old actor in a key role.
  June 5, 2013 - Memphis Commercial Appeal

Quotes

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• Mike Sodrel in Louisville Courier-Journal
  If you provide real incentives to the private sector, they might be able to do something like make ethanol out of kudzu,Sodrel said. "That would clean up the highways and make fuel out of something you can't eat."
• Francis Escudero in Philippine Star
  Cover crops such as ramie, maguey and kudzu can also mitigate damages from strong rains and winds,Escudero said.
• Junior Johnson in ESPN
  You could grow kudzu on the moon,says living legend Junior Johnson, a man who knows a little something about converting corn into more potent substances. "It'd take it a month to turn the whole damn thing green. Half of Wilkesboro [NC] is...