Kudzu (probably Pueraria lobata) is at the height of its flowering cycle

#treetuesday introduces what is probably one of the most invasive species ever introduced into the Unites States  First introduced as a flowering ornamental at the Philadelphia Continental Exposition in 1876. In the 1930s and '40s, the government rebranded kudzu as a remedy for soil erosion and as cattle feed. 

 In the southern U.S. kudzu is reportedly used to make soaps, lotions, contribute to compost, and the fiber used to make baskets. 

***All of these photos taken near a street where I live in southwest VA where it rambles over abandoned trees and even over an invasive bamboo.