Botanical Name: Pueraria lobata. The plant genus Pueraria is named after the Swiss Professor M. N. Pueraria (1766-1845). It contains around 20 species of herbaceous or woody vines, all native to Asia. Other Common Names: Kudzu vine, Japanese arrowroot, ge gen (ge hua) (Chinese), bidari kand (Sanskrit). Habitat: Kudzu is native to India, China, and Japan. The plant is commercially cultivated in some parts of China. Kudzu was first introduced to the USA in the 1870s and was widely planted in the southeastern states up to 1933 as protection against erosion and a source of food and fiber. In no