The climbing plant is capable of invading and engulfing whole forests as it grows in a clockwise spiral toward the light. The weed kills other plants by girdling the stems or smothering them with a blanket of leaves and stems. Large kudzu plants kill other plants simply by breaking their stems under the sheer weight of the infestation. In the southeastern United States, whole forests have been killed by kudzu in two to three years. Kudzu has compound leaves, with three fuzzy leaflets.
Individual leaflets are oval or heart-shaped and about three inches long.
Pea-like purple to red flowers bloom in the summer and smell like grapes. Kudzu stems are velvety hairy and brown. As with any weed, early and accurate identification is crucial to control, said Colquhoun.