THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510190209
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA
LENGTH: Long : 144 lines
KUDZU, IT SEEMS, is into everything.
The tenacious twining greenery, with its broadly oval leaflets and fragrant, reddish-purple flowers, can consume cars, houses and entire forests. On trees and shrubs lining highway medians, it resembles a Disney theme park topiary garden, designed by a spastic Goofy.
As one forester put it: ``It's gonna take over the world by the year 2010.''
So you'd think that people would have plenty to say about the hairy-stemmed, hardy-rooted, garden-robbin', building-shroudin', uncontrollable weed.
But no. Perhaps because it's waged war with the trees - and appears to be winning in some parts of the state - it has received little attention on paper.
Most encyclopedias devote but a paragraph or two to the climbing vine that originated in the Orient and has become a symbol of the South.
Some, like Encyclopaedia Britannica, don't even mention kudzu, making space instead for The Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji, Lithuanian physician Vincas Kudirka and an ancient stone marker called kudurru.
And, here, kudzu probably considers itself the consummate coverup. Need that dilapidated lawn furniture to disappear in a hurry? Put a little kudzu around it. Tired of tending your garden? Let kudzu take over.
Reference books that do mention kudzu (officially pronounced KOOD-zoo), write of its role in preventing soil erosion and ornamenting porches, and describe how it provides livestock fodder and enriches soils with nitrogen.
But none can make it to the end without calling kudzu names. The most common is ``pest.''
``It's one of those mistakes, such as we have made many times, of introducing a plant which is too well adapted to our environment here and has no natural enemies,'' said Pasquotank County Agricultural Extension Agent Tom Campbell.
``We did that also with crab grass, Bermuda grass, Johnson grass and many other exotic spe cies that we brought over intentionally because they'd do some good.
``And they did so well that they've created a problem.''
The last time the mainstream press paid any attention to kudzu was in 1993, when magazines like Newsweek and Science News proclaimed, ``Herbal tonic cuts hamsters' alcohol use.''
Borrowing from an ancient Chinese recipe, a team of Harvard researchers found that a kudzu extract cured the furry rodents of their desire for booze.
But can man peacefully coexist with the prolific plant? Is kudzu good for anything besides treating hard-drinking hamsters?
Depends on who you talk to.
Imported from Japan and China in the late 1800s, kudzu became a landscape fixture in no time.
``To my understanding, it was brought over by the highway department for road bank erosion control,'' said salesman John Thomson, who works for Ag-Chem Inc. in Elizabeth City.
Kudzu proved it was up to the task during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, saving acres and acres of earth and roads nationwide from being washed away in storms.
It also explains why we in flat, coastal Carolina are more fortunate than our neighbors to the west.
``We don't have a lot of it right around here. Once you get into the Piedmont and the mountains, it's a different story,'' said Jeff McPherson, a mechanic for the North Carolina Forest Service in Elizabeth City.
``If it weren't for traffic, it would grow across the highway.''
But if it weren't for kudzu, the cows might go hungry.
The exotic plant is actually kin to the bean and pea and is used to feed livestock. Dr. James Duke writes in his 1992 ``Handbook of Edible Weeds'' that kudzu can produce eight tons per acre of edible mass.
And it appears that cattle aren't the only creatures catching on to the leafy legume.
Diced kudzu root can be used as a soup thickener (but discard it before eating). Young leaves and shoots can be eaten raw or boiled, fried, pickled or sauteed, said Vickie Shufer, author of the bimonthly newsletter ``The Wild Foods Forum.''
Shufer, who lives in Virginia Beach and distributes her newsletter nationwide, has included kudzu in past issues.
Does she think kudzu has been given a bad rap?
``I guess, to some degree, rightfully so,'' she said. ``It does tend to spread, and it does take over in those areas.''
Speaking of spread, the kudzu flower, which blooms in July as far north as Virginia, can be used to make a jelly. Then there's an Alabama woman who recently received publicity for her kudzu teas and wine. Taste-testers didn't wince even once - at least not in front of the television cameras.
Duke, a retired economic botanist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, likes to serve his kudzu soaked in batter or tempura.
``They have the marvelous taste of fried batter,'' he concluded.
Kudzu's starchy roots, which can grow as much as five feet into the ground, can be used to make flour, flour meal and glues. Fibers in the stems can be woven into ropes, Campbell said.
Pieces of the root can also be boiled and drunk for medicinal purposes. A Georgia company sells Kudzu Vine Root, available for $6.25 at Nature's Emporium in Elizabeth City. As with the hamsters, it's designed to assist humans trying to get back on the wagon.
``So it has a lot of possible uses, but the drawback with it is it grows so rapidly and it pegs down where it grows,'' Campbell said.
According to World Book, kudzu grows as far north as Pennsylvannia and can reach 60 feet in length.
In the past, one of the few means of control was to have livestock constantly graze on the perennial until it finally died out. Others in recent years have tried over-the-counter plant poisons like Round-Up.
A new product, called Gallery, promises to kill kudzu only, sparing vegetation ensnared in the prolific plant's clutches.
``I haven't used it. It's a relatively new product,'' Thomson said. But he hopes it'll work.
``That stuff roots deeply. It roots as it goes along the ground,'' he said. ``It's just extremely difficult to kill.''
In the meantime, beware.
``You better not sleep close to it, it'll strangle you in the night,'' Thomson joked. ``It grows that fast.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
An abandoned farm house near Jarvisburg in Currituck County has been
nearly overtaken with kudzu and other vines.
Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
No height is too daunting for kidzu which has swathed this telephone
pole in its fiberous greenery.
Graphic
KUDZU FLOWER JELLY
4 cups kudzu blossoms
1 tsp. lemon extract
1 package pectin
5 cups sugar
Chop kudzu blossoms and place in a bowl. Pour 1 quart of boiling
water over blossoms and set in refrigerator overnight.
The next morning, strain and add 1 teaspoon of lemon extract and
1 package of pectin. Bring mixture to a boil, add sugar, then bring
to a second boil, stirring constantly.
Allow to boil for 1 minute, skim, then pour into sterilized jars
and fill.
Submitted by Maxine Claar of North Carolina for ``The Wild Foods
Forum.''
KEYWORDS: KUDZU by CNB