What alien grows nearly a foot (30 cm) a day, is invading the United States, and makes a nice jelly?

Kudzu has many names including the Foot a Night Plant, Cuss You, and The Plant that Ate the South. It grows as much as 60 feet in a season and able to reach heights of 20–30 m (66-98 ft) in trees. It is a vine plant is native to China and Japan. The Southern United States is a nearly perfect habitat for kudzu and lacks the insects and climate that keep it in check in Asia. It’s estimated that kudzu covers 7 million acres of land in the U.S.. Its vines and leaves smother and choke the native plants.

While it’s a pest plant in the United States, it has some great qualities:

• The fragrant purple flowers of kudzu are used to make a popular sweet jelly.
• Young kudzu leaves are enjoyed deep fried, boiled like spinach, made into a tea or mixed into a quiche. Its leaves have been found to be high in protein, calcium and vitamins A and C. (Be careful what you eat, kudzu does look a bit like poison ivy.)
• Kudzu’s starchy roots have been dried and ground it a fine powder as a herbal medicine for at lease 1,300 years. Its has been used to treat hangovers, migraines, glaucoma, cancer and congestive heart failure.
• The Harvard Medical School is studying kudzu as a way to reduce alcohol cravings.
• Kudzu is almost equal to alfalfa in nutritional value and is fed to livestock. Infact, cities like Chattanooga, TN, Tallahassee, Fla., and Spartanburg, S.C., have used goats and sheep to help keep kudzu at bay.
• Kudzu’s highly starchy roots may make a good biofuel source. Scientist believe kudzu could produce almost 270 gallons of ethanol per acre.