Pueraria montana (Lour.) Merr.
Kudzu
Introduced
CC = *
CW = 5
MOC = 26
© DETenaglia
Pueraria montana (Lour.) Merr.Kudzu | |
|
Introduced CC = * CW = 5 MOC = 26 |
© DETenaglia |
|
Family - Fabaceae/Faboideae Habit - Perennial herbs, often woody at the base, with massive, tuberous roots.
Stems - Twining and climbing, to 30 m, branched, unarmed, relatively stout, densely pubescent with bristly, usually yellowish brown hairs, these often with expanded, dark, bulbous bases.
Leaves - Alternate, pinnately trifoliate, long-petiolate. Petioles 8-23 cm long. Stipules 8-16 mm long, lanceolate to oblong-ovate, peltate, with an asymmetric base, angled or tapered to a bluntly or sharply pointed tip, sometimes toothed toward the tip, with conspicuous venation, hairy, mostly shed early; stipels 8-10 mm long, narrowly lanceolate to linear or hairlike, hairy, persistent. Leaflets 8-20 cm long, 5-19 cm wide, ovate to broadly ovate or rhombic, angled to broadly angled, broadly rounded, or nearly truncate at the base, mostly short-tapered to a sharply pointed tip, unlobed or shallowly to moderately 3-lobed, the lateral lobes rounded, the margins otherwise entire, the surfaces (especially the undersurface) appressed-hairy, with 3 main veins from the base, but otherwise more or less pinnately veined. Terminal leaflet with the stalk 20-70 mm long, symmetric at the base; lateral leaflets with the stalk 4-10 mm long, asymmetric at the base.
Inflorescences - Axillary, indeterminate, dense racemes 9-30 cm long, with usually numerous flowers, the stalk 8-25 mm long (often appearing longer if the lowermost flowers fail to set fruit and are shed), the bracts 4-10 mm long, lanceolate to ovate, glabrous or hairy, shed early, each flower with a stalk 2-8 mm long, the bractlets 2-4 mm long, lanceolate to ovate, hairy (at least along the margins), persistent.
Flowers - Calyces appressed-hairy, the tube 3-5 mm long, bell-shaped, 2-lipped, the lobes 4-13 mm long, unequal, the upper 2 lobes fused into an ovate structure, this sometimes split at the tip, the lower lip with the 2 lateral lobes slightly shorter than the upper lip, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, the lowermost lobe much longer than the others, narrowly lanceolate, all of the lobes sharply pointed at their tips. Corollas papilionaceous, reddish purple to purple, sometimes appearing somewhat bicolorous with a lighter banner, the banner 12-20 mm long, 8-14 mm wide, the expanded portion curved upward but appearing somewhat concave (the margins curved inward), broadly ovate, notched at the tip, with a yellow spot toward the base, the wings 9-14 mm long, 3-6 mm wide, obliquely oblong-obovate, fused to the keel toward the base, the free portion cupped around it, the keel 12-17 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, boat-shaped, bent or curved upward, short-tapered to a sharply pointed tip. Stamens 10, in 2 alternating, slightly shorter and longer series, 9 of the filaments fused and 1 free to about the midpoint, the fused portion 10-12 mm long, the free portion 2-4 mm long, curved upward, the anthers small, attached near the base, yellow. Ovary 10-12 mm long, hairy, the style 3-5 mm long, bent upward toward the tip, slender, glabrous, the stigma small, terminal.
Fruits - Legumes, 4-7 cm long, 5-9 mm wide, irregularly oblong (the shorter fruits narrowly oblong-elliptic), tapered to a beak, flattened, expanded over the seeds, straight or somewhat curved, dehiscing from the tip, the margins often irregularly wavy, with a dense fringe of long, reddish brown to yellowish brown hairs, the surfaces green at maturity, turning tan to reddish brown and papery with age, long-hairy, especially over the seeds, 1-7-seeded. Seeds 3-5 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, oblong to somewhat kidney-shaped in outline, the surface somewhat flattened, reddish brown with darker mottling, relatively dull.
Flowering - August - September. Habitat - Forest margins, riverbanks, fields, fencerows, cemeteries, quarries, railroads, roadsides, and open, disturbed areas. Origin - Native to Asia. Other info. - Kudzu is one of the most famous weed pests in the south. The vines can cover entire wooded areas killing or stunting all the vegetation below with shade. It is less a problem in Missouri, at least at present. The species was originally brought to the U.S. as ground cover and fodder and now much research time is being devoted to its eradication.
Photographs taken next to Missouri Department of Conservation Building in Cassville, MO. 9-10-99, and in Reidsville, NC., 9-24-02 (DETenaglia); also about 10 miles northeast of Walnut Ridge, AR, 9-7-2024 (SRTurner). |
