Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Beware the Kudzu Strangler!

Crawlin’, crawlin’ like a spider,

Kudzu weaves its web of green.

Creepin’, sneakin’ ever wider,

Trappin’ trees in each ravine.

Reachin’, reachin’ towards the blacktop

Stalkin' all the cars that pass.

Can’t the guv’ment make it stop

‘Fore it strangles us en masse?

Kudzu grows everywhere, and here it is right in downtown Selma...on the river bank, through the fence and heading for the pavement.

Often called "the vine that ate the South," kudzu is not native to America. The government imported it from the Far East in the 1930s for erosion control. But the fast-growing plant took over like a tyrant...swallowing trees, gripping power poles, threatening ecosystems. It is very difficult to kill, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture officially declared it to be a weed in 1972.


6 comments:

Nathalie H.D. said...

Beautiful quality picture for a serious problem. Australia also has its share of weeds that are hard to eradicate. Lantana is one of them.

CaBaCuRl said...

Governments have a lot to answer for in terms of things they 'introduce' to try and control problems. Often the control becomes a bigger problem. This is the case with the cane toad in Australia.

isa said...

Oh, no! Is it coming my way? ;-)

Janet said...

Isabella, look out! The kudzu vine can run faster than I can!

Squirrel said...

nice snap. invasives are so annoying, aren't they? they seem innocent at first!

CaBaCuRl said...

Thanks for visiting my blog. The tree in front of my window belongs to the hibiscus family, but the rainbow lorakeets ( very colourful birds) love the red flowers!