Pueraria montana

Pueraria montana var lobata

Kudzu ( Pueraria montana), from Japanese kuzu (葛), German and World Green, a plant is from the legume family ( Fabaceae ). Their original area of ​​distribution lies in East Asia: China, Japan, Korea. Kudzu is performed on the list of " 100 of the world 's worst invasive alien species" of the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group.

• 7.1 Notes and references

Description

Vegetative characteristics

Pueraria montana is a robust, climbing, seasonal green, perennial herbaceous plant that partly on the basis lignified ( Liane ). It forms yellowish, rough hair on the aboveground plant parts. There are root nodules formed as outlasting. The rooted at the blade attachment points, climbing Stems are hairy, grow up to 20 m per year and can reach a height of 30 m.

The leaves are standing against three pieces pinnate or rarely simple. The dorsifixen stipules are ovate -oblong and striped. The terminal leaflets is broadly ovate, 7-15 (rarely to 19 ) cm long and 5 to 12 ( rarely to 18) cm wide. The two lateral leaflets are ovate and smaller than the transverse Endfiederblättchen. The oblong- lanceolate leaflets addition to the leaflets are at least as long as the pedicels.

Generative features

In the 15 to 30 cm long, racemose inflorescences are composed of two or three flowers in each node. The oblong- lanceolate to lanceolate bracts are shorter or longer than the ovate, less than 2 mm long bracts. The 2 to 2.5 cm wide flowers are zygomorphic, fünfzählig and hermaphrodite. The shaggy yellow hairy calyx is 7-20 mm long, with five lanceolate calyx lobes that are slightly longer than the deformed part. The five petals are purple to violet. The short spiked, inverted egg-shaped flag is 8 to 18 mm long. The wings are sickle-shaped and narrower than the boat. The boat is crescent-shaped - rectangular. The hairy ovary is oblong. The flowering period extends from July to October.

Brown raubehaarte, flat, long elliptical legume has a length of 4 to 14 cm and a width of 6-13 mm. The fruits ripen from October to December.

Dissemination

The original area of ​​distribution of Pueraria montana was in eastern India, Myanmar, Indochina, China, Korea and Japan, to Thailand, Malaysia, the Pacific islands and northern Australia.

1876 ​​, the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Pueraria montana was first introduced in the United States. From 1935 to mid-1950s, farmers were encouraged in the southern U.S. for cultivation. Today Pueraria montana is common in all states in the Southeast and in Oregon, Washington and Hawaii in the western United States of America.

In Panama, the Caribbean and Sierra Leone in Africa occurrence of Pueraria montana is described, in Mexico occurs Pueraria montana var lobata on.

In Europe, Kudzu place at several growing sites in warm regions of Lake Maggiore and Lago di Lugano ( Switzerland and Italy).

Natural enemies

The Wanzenart Megacopta cribraria feeds in addition to numerous other plants, especially of Kudzu. In the fields it hinders Although its growth, as the animals but especially in all adjacent non - kudzu fields, such as on soybean, strongly affect the plants growth outside the natural home without the use of pesticides, the risk is great that there turn kudzu spreads increased. The kudzu protects itself mainly by its large regeneration area and his nährstoffspeicherndes root system. Megacopta cribraria played until 2009 in the United States no special role, then there were a veritable invasion, which affected more and more states in the southeastern United States. Notoriety gained the bugs mainly by their mass occurrence, while the black swarms often cover entire walls of houses.

System

Pueraria montana belongs in the genus Pueraria in the subtribe Glycininae from the tribe Phaseoleae in the subfamily Faboideae within the Fabaceae family.

This species was first described in 1790 as Dolichos montanus by João de Loureiro in Flora cochinchinensis, 2, pp. 440-441. The name Pueraria montana she received in 1935 by Elmer Drew Merrill in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, new series, 24 ( 2 ), pp. 210. There are a large number of other synonyms.

From Pueraria montana ( Lour. ) Merr. At least three known varieties:

• Pueraria montana var lobata ( syn. Dolichos hirsutus Thunb, Dolichos lobatus Willd, Neustanthus chinensis Benth, Sieb & Zucc Pachyrhizus thunbergianus, Pueraria hirsuta ( Thunb. ) Matsum, Pueraria lobata ( Willd.) Ohwi, Pueraria. .. .. . lobata var chinensis ( Benth. ) Ohwi, Pueraria pseudohirsuta Tang & FTWang, Pueraria thunbergiana ( Sieb. & Zucc. ) Benth., Pueraria triloba ( Houtt. ) Makino )
• Pueraria montana var montana ( Syn: .. Dolichos montanus Lour, Glycine javanica L., puerarin montana var ( Lour. ) Maesen, Pueraria omeiensis FT Wang & Tang, Pueraria tonkinensis Gagnep )
• Pueraria montana var thomsonii ( Syn: Pueraria lobata var thomsonii ( Benth. ) Maesen, Pueraria montana var chinensis auct, Pueraria thomsonii Benth.. )

Use

The starchy tuberous roots of Pueraria montana var lobata be eaten cooked. The tubers can be up to 1.8 meters long and 35 kg heavier. The tubers contain up to 10 % starch, which can be extracted and is used for example as breading or for thickening soups. It also pasta produced therefrom, or is such as agar- agar, and gelatin. These tubers are a staple food in Japan. The flowers are eaten cooked or pickled. Stems and leaves are used raw or cooked and the fresh flowers smell of vanilla. Very rich in nutrients are the fresh young shoots, which taste like a mixture of beans and peas.

The medical effects of Pueraria lobata var Montana were examined. The daidzin present in the plant off the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 ( ALDH -2) in the human body, which is broken down during the acetaldehyde less Alkoholeinahme. Therefore, kudzu is considered effective against alcohol addiction.

The 2 to 3 mm long, strong fibers from the stalks are processed, for example to textiles and greenish, cream-colored paper. How many of legumes with their nodule bacteria is Pueraria montana var lobata as a green manure and mulch plant planted; its roots go very deep with up to 1.8 meters.

Control

For the removal of the plant 's root system has to be destroyed. Careful cleaning of vehicles and tools is necessary, since adhering parts of plants otherwise applied again and can re- sprout. A digging is difficult due to the large tubers and is best suited for a limited space. The grazing of cattle, goats or pigs over several years or repeated mowing may result from the loss of the leaves and the subsequent depletion of the root system for the elimination of stocks. A control by herbicides is also possible. Biological plant protection is examined, however, eat some insects in question come to fight and to crops.

Swell

• LJG van der Maesen: Pueraria, the kudzu and its relatives: an update of the taxonomy, In: Proc. 1st Int. Symp Tuberous legumes. Guadeloupe, FWI, 1992, pp. 55-86. - Pueraria montana on page 65
• Delin Wu & Mats Thulin: Pueraria in the Flora of China, Volume 10, p 246: Pueraria montana - Online.