It is time to contend with kudzu, the multifaceted plant that is both a monolithic myth—the “vine that ate the South”—and a rooted, living plurality comprised of at least five species and subspecies of semi-woody climbing vines in the Pueraria genus. Transplanted from East Asia in an age of imperial expansion and bioprospecting, Pueraria species have become firmly rooted in the natural-cultural landscape of the Southeastern United States over the past 150 years. Meanwhile the myth of kudzu has seeped into the collective consciousness of Americans well beyond the plant’s biological range, becoming a rallying symbol for the “war on invasive species,” which has claimed the attention and energy of conservation biologists, agrochemical engineers, and weekend “weed warriors” across the United States in recent decades.