Solved: Kudzu

[Tom]

hint is it smells like grape Nehi.

                                             

[Don P]

Thanks Tom, I wasn't sure whether a scan could be cleaned up enough for a post. Sorry for the 2D appearance folks gotta kinda fluff it a little in your mind.  

[CHARLIE]

OK.....first it looks familiar but not that familiar....  For Jeff's sake, I'm eliminating it as being a Lilly. Does it really smell like Grape Nehi? or could it be that it smells like Grapette.  This is important. I need some help here. Where does it grow........in da north, south, east or west?     Is it a Gladiola?  

[Don P]

Hi Charlie,
 This is Michelle.  I instigated this one, so I'll give more clues.
It grows ALL OVER the south.  It truely smells like grape Nehi.  

[CHARLIE]

OK....are you sure it doesn't smell like Grapette?  Grape Nehi smells like Grapette and Grapette smells like Grape Nehi. So which is it, I'm confused. :-/   So, it grows in the South....hmmmmm.  Was it Gladiola's?   Where the heck is Jeff's exspurt?  If it isn't Gladiola, then I'll have to do a little more figurating.  

[Don P]

Well Charlie to be honest, to my sawdust filled nostrils all grape stuff smells about the same

We had to laugh when we saw some of this on bamboo. Kinda like Godzilla meets Mothra

The LARGE root is edible, is used in ice cream and cosmetics.

[CHARLIE]

Aha!! Bamboo!!!! Used in ice cream and cosmetics!!!  Grows in da Souf. :-/ :-/ :-/  All clues that zeros into something...   Where the heck is Jeff's exspurt now??  I feel like I'm all alone on this one.  I've ruled out flowering tree, and when you say you saw it on bamboo makes me think it's a vine instead of a plant like a gladiola. I'm thinking here......  I think I know what it is.  It's ahhhhhhhh....hmmmmm   Is this a plant native to the U.S.? Can it grow to be a big, big plant? Does Georgia have a LOT of it?

HEY OUT THERE!  Where's my help!  Am I gonna have to figure this out all on my own? Sheeeeeesh!  It's got me thinking and I hate thinking 'cause it gives me headaches.  

[Tom]

Your on your own Charlie,  Careful of that thinking stuff.  I hear it can make your hair fall out. Sure is a pretty flower.  Maybe you can talk Don into sending you a cutting.

[Don P]

How many hundred pounds of cuttings you want?
Yup it was imported by the extension service I think. Got a picture in an old text showing before and after of an erosion canyon and the proud county agent standing beside his handywork. I hope he turned and ran, fast.
Most folks are so busy cussing it they never even notice that it blooms!
I remember one picture of a root beside a man, it was just as tall and big around

[CHARLIE]

Aha! I got it before Jeff's exspurt! I is so smart! The clues gave it away.
1) How many hundred pounds of cuttings you want?  
   2) It was imported
   3) Erosion
   4) root beside a man, it was just as tall and big around

You're right I've never seen it bloom and didn't know it had flowers. I wonder if it would make a good wine.
Tom, would you check that out?

If it's the stuff I think it is, it covers forest from the ground to the tippy top. The only way to get rid of it is with a herbicide. The roots can weigh as much as a car. Without your generous clues though....I'd have been at a loss.

I think the picture must be the flower of the infamous kudzu (I don't know if it's spelled right) that was imported from...I think...Japan to stop erosion along roadsides where they cut through hillsides. I know it grows well in Georgia and Alabama.  Is that the right answer?

[Don P]

You got er Charlie  I figured it would have to be you or Don S, but I don't know if it grows over that way...yet. Its gathering a bit of momentum up in our hills, wonder if I can saw the roots

Most of my kinfolk come from tobacco country in NC. My great uncle was a florist and used to decorate the church for Sunday services.  One year during suckering time, when the farmers go through the bright leaf and snap off the flowers to send the energy to the leaves, he made arrangements using the flowers. He got lots of positive responses and people questioning what the pretty flowers were funny how we can wear blinders to whats right around us every day.

I'd try the wine idea but I still hate drywall repair  

[Tom]

way to go Charlie!

I didn't think you would get it.  

I've never seen the flowers to Kudzu before, they are pretty.  i had heard about the roots being edible but never new they got as big as a man.  Maybe I should go looking for one the next time I get up into Ga. a ways where the stuff grows.  I'm always looking for something else to eat.

For some reason it hasn't taken over Florida.  There is one place between Vero and Ft. Pierce where Kings Highway meets US-1 where it has grown over everything.  If you leave the road at the railroad overpass there you could be lost forever.  Nobody would ever find you.

[Texas Ranger]

You had me buffaloed on this one, I know of only one patch of kudzu in my part of the world, and I have never seen it bloom.

[Jeff]

Great Thread!

Jeff does not have a "who" for an expert, he has a "where".

[L. Wakefield]

   Now get a loada this- I don't know for sure that it's true, but the folks on alt.aromatherapy and alt.folklore.herbs have been swearing that kudzu can be used to help you break free from alcoholism- no, they don't let the vine tie you down til you swear to quit- no, it isn't the smell of grape nehi- damfino what it was they said- the root or the leaf- something- I'll find out for you. It's driven folks to drink- now they claim it can help you quit..   lw