the extent of the plant in america is much smaller, the spread much slower, and the resilience much lower, than a lot of people think. it only spread in the first place because there was a huge campaign to plant it everywhere during the great depression, mostly as an attempt to stabilize soil. it didn't spread all on its own like wildfire. people spread it. now the japanese kudzu bug, another invasive species, is killing it off, which while alarming in its own way is also kinda funny tbh.

one reason kudzu seems so widespread is that it grows really well on road cuts and railroad embankments. basically people are seeing the roadside facade of a vast kudzu invasion.