''Pueraria tuberosa'', commonly known as
kudzu
Kudzu (; also called Japanese arrowroot or Chinese arrowroot) is a group of climbing, coiling, and trailing deciduous perennial vines native to much of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and some Pacific islands, but invasive species, invasive in many ...
, Indian kudzu,
or Nepalese kudzu,
''Vidarikand'', Sanskrit: Bhukushmandi (भूकुशमंडी)
[Indian Kudzu]
/ref> is a climber with woody tuberculated stem. It is a climbing, coiling and trailing vine with large tuberous roots. The tubers are globose or pot-like, about across and the insides are white, starchy and mildly sweet. Leaves are trifoliate and alternate, while the leaflets are egg-shaped, with round base and unequal sides. They are long and wide and are hairless above. Flowers are bisexual, around across and blue or purplish-blue in color. The fruit pods are linear, about long and constricted densely between the seeds. They have silky, bristly reddish-brown hair. Seeds vary from 3 to 6 in number.
It is native to India,[''Pueraria tuberosa'' (Roxb.ex Willd.) DC.](_blank)
''Flora of Pakistan'', S. I. Ali & M. Qaiser (eds), 2001 Pakistan,
Conservation status
Kudzu is facing extinction in the wild because of herb hunters who trade the tubers illegally to agents of pharmaceutical or Ayurvedic companies. In the black market, the red variety kudzu tuber of about 10 kg is believed to be very expensive ranging up to lakh
A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ex ...
s of rupees. The tubers are not disturbed from the plant, but the agents draw the juice of the tuber using syringe
A syringe is a simple reciprocating pump consisting of a plunger (though in modern syringes, it is actually a piston) that fits tightly within a cylindrical tube called a barrel. The plunger can be linearly pulled and pushed along the inside ...
s.
References
tuberosa
Plants described in 1825
{{Phaseoleae-stub