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Article: Kudzu: A Tale of Two Vines.(history and environmental benefit)(Statistical Data Included)
- Article from:
- Southern Cultures
- Article date:
- September 22, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 University of North Carolina Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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City leaders in Tallahassee, Florida, recently started a program that uses sheep to graze on large, troublesome patches of kudzu within the city. Several summers ago, Greenville, South Carolina, hosted the filming and theatrical debut of "Kudzula," the story of a ten-year-old boy who saves a town from over-development with the help of a forty-foot kudzu creature.(1) As these incidents suggest, the story of kudzu is a "tale of two vines." Existing simultaneously in the realms of nature and culture, kudzu--like southern culture in general--is open to multiple interpretations and representations. In Tallahassee, kudzu is a pest. Like visiting relatives, the plant has ...