Kudzu
Pueraria montana var. lobata
Found in roadsides, waste areas. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to West Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 59%
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to moist
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
Do not plant. Listed invasive in West Virginia.
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Woody perennial
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- July to October
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread
County records are not available.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
4CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including WV
Genus host records with ranges including WV · Pueraria
- Anticarsia gemmatalisVelvetbean Caterpillar Moth
- Epargyreus clarusSilver-Spotted Skipper
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Urbanus proteusLong-Tailed Skipper, Bean Leaf Roller
Plant details
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Flower color
- Pink or purple
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “July to October” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Pink or purple” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Leaves · “Deciduous” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Woody perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Dry; Moist (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
Conservation status
| West Virginia rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | GNRTNR |
| WV status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- West Virginia DNR invasive plant list
- USDA PLANTS
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition
- NatureServe Explorer
- West Virginia occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications

