Kudzu (/ˈkʊdzuː/, also called Japanese arrowroot) is a group of plants in the genus Pueraria, in the pea family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. They are climbing, coiling, and trailing perennial vines native to much of eastern Asia, Southeast Asia, and some Pacific islands. The name comes from the Japanese name for the plants, kuzu (クズ or 葛?) , which was written "kudzu" in historical romanizations. Where these plants are naturalized, they can be invasive and are considered noxious weeds. The plant climbs over trees or shrubs and grows so rapidly that it kills them by heavy shading. The plant is edible, but often sprayed with herbicides.
The name kudzu describes one or more species in the genus Pueraria that are closely related, and some of them are considered to be varieties rather than full species. The morphological differences between them are subtle; they can breed with each other, and introduced kudzu populations in the United States apparently have ancestry from more than one of the species. They are:
Kudzu was a daily comic strip by Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Doug Marlette about rural Southerners. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, the strip ran from 1981 to 2007.
The title came from the kudzu vine which was introduced to the Southern United States (and initially encouraged) as a soil erosion control plant, but soon became an out-of-control invasive species.
The daily strip was launched on a Monday, June 15, 1981. At its peak, it was syndicated in 300 newspapers. Marlette's flippant treatment of depression—a character read a magazine called Modern Depression which featured "Suicide notes to the editor"—drew criticism from advocates for the mentally ill.
The cast included Kudzu Dubose, Nasal T. Lardbottom, Rev. Will B. Dunn, Ida Mae Wombat, Veranda Tadsworth and NASCAR Dad. Comics historian Don Markstein described the strip's characters:
Will B. Dunn (the name is a play on the phrase "thy will be done", spoken by Jesus Christ at the Garden of Gethsemane), was modeled, at least in clothing and appearance, on Will D. Campbell, a preacher, director of religious life at the University of Mississippi, civil rights activist (the only white man in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference) and author. Following Campbell's Death in 2013, Marlette's son, Andy, honored Campbell with a final comic strip featuring Will B. Dunn, holding the Holy Bible at Campbell's grave.
The Kudzu was a counterculture underground newspaper published in Jackson, Mississippi starting in September 1968. Promising "Subterranean News from the Heart of Ole Dixie" and offering a blend of hip culture and radical politics, it was founded by members of the Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC), a student activist group affiliated with SDS. Founding editors were Cassell Carpenter, David Doggett, and Everett Long, students at Millsaps College in Jackson. Despite harassment by police and city officials it survived until May 1972.
Before launching Kudzu David Doggett, who had been hired as a full-time organizer for Mississippi by SSOC, spent a month living in the basement of The Great Speckled Bird, their sister newspaper in Atlanta, learning the mechanics of underground newspaper production. The paper was biweekly, but due to publishing delays it generally came out about once every three weeks during its first year, and about once every 6 weeks thereafter. The papers were sold at high schools, colleges, and downtown Jackson, with additional distribution at colleges and other locations across Mississippi. Over the life of the paper about 32 issues were published, with about 6000 copies printed of each issue. Because they could not find an affordable printer in Jackson, Kudzu was forced to go to The Louisiana Weekly, a black newspaper in New Orleans, to get the paper printed. The paper had few advertisers and was financed mostly out of the pockets of the editors, who lost the small amount of financial support they were receiving from SSOC when that group disbanded in mid-1969.
Grow, grow, grow¡ how your mind must flow.
No, no, no¡ that's where we get our self control.
If stealing four leaf clovers for the needy is so wrong,
Then throw me in the slammer with convicted leprechauns.
(chorus)
I'll stop talkin' when the kudzu dies.
(plant your soul and watch it grow)
Say, say, say¡ did you check your bank account today?
I bet it's lookin' plump,
'cause' you sold a lot of soul today.
I don't need someone to tell me what they think is cool.
How would you know anyway?
You read the book of rules.
(chorus) repeat
It's growin'¡ it's growin' (repeat 4x)