Kudzu has large, nicely shaped leaves and a sweet-smelling blossom. To farmers, property owners and Oregon Department of Agriculture officials, the noxious vine is anything but appealing, however.

In fact, it is a mystery visitor whose surprise presence is very much undesired.

So far, a small amount of the deep-rooted and fast-growing kudzu has been found near southbound Highway 99E, on a steep bank halfway up Top O' Hill near Aurora.

The one-quarter-of-an-acre-sized sample was found July 28 as state Agriculture Department weed control workers surveyed for a parasite of clover, said ODA spokesman Bruce Pokarney.

The kudzu is completely overgrown, and had choked the life out of trees, plants and even berry vines.

It is attempting to send tendrils across 99E.

Oregon State University examined samples, and confirmed it was the creeping and high-climbing kudzu - which had previously never been found in the state.

A semi-woody perennial vine in the pea family, kudzu is native to Asia and can be found in the eastern and southeastern United States.

Add Clackamas County to the list.

"It is the first time it has ever been reported west of Texas," Pokarney said Friday.

"It's hard to say if we will find it anywhere else. We don't know where it came from, and we may never know."

An aircraft circled the area the kudzu was found Friday morning, but saw no other signs of the noxious and potentially devastating weed.

Officials from the ODA and ODOT are developing a management plan for treating the kudzu outbreak.

"It's most likely we will use a systemic herbicide, but we've got a few weeks to deliberate and be thoughtful about how best to tackle this," Pokarney said.

State officials fear the voracious vine, if allowed to go unchecked and unmanaged, has the strength to spread. It already has elsewhere in the U.S., with devastating effect on property and trees.

"We are warning landowners to keep on the lookout for kudzu, and to contact the state if they find any," Pokarney said.

The ODA's Weed Control program is trying to determine the source and extent of the infestation. It appears the kudzu established in the state right of way area within the past two or three years.

The plant spreads rapidly through its vine, which can grow daily by a few inches to up to one foot.

It can cover a tree in rapid fashion, and its roots - which grow as deep as 12 feet - take control of an area.

"The weed overwhelms native plants, literally smothering other species, and it is a threat to riparian areas and watershed health," ODA reported.

Kudzu can take years to kill, and eventually smothers the life out of plants and trees by hogging water and nutrient supplies.

It has hairy, twining vines that can bend, break uproot trees and bring down telephone and utility poles with their weight.

Kudzu grows well in places where the winters are mild, where annual rainfall is about 40 inches, and where summer temperatures are about 80 degrees.

The vine was introduced into the U.S. in 1876 as an ornamental plant. The Japanese government constructed a garden filled with native plants, including kudzu, at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pa.

In the 1920s, kudzu was planted for ornamental purposes, and was used as forage for animals.

With the onset of the Great Depression a decade later, the U.S. Soil Conservation Service promoted kudzu to use to control soil erosion, and Civilian Conservation Corps members planted it liberally.

In the 1940s, farmers were paid as much as $8 an acre as an incentive to plant fields of the vine.

Channing Cope of Covington, Ga., was one of kudzu's most vocal advocates during the '40s, and he toured the southeast promoting "the miracle vine."

However, in 1953, kudzu was recognized as a weed, and was no longer planted. It is illegal to bring the plant or seeds into Oregon.

In the Deep South states, there is so much kudzu growing, it covers more than seven million acres.

Officials in some towns and counties have given up throwing money at the persistent problem, and it is known as 'The vine that ate the South.'

"It has got to the point in the South where they cannot eradicate it, or even control it," Pokarney said. "They just have to live with it, and some places even have kudzu festivals."

The ODA's weed experts search for between 50 and 60 noxious weeds, and were surprised to come across kudzu.

"Although there is no evidence that other infestations of the noxious weed have invaded Oregon, officials want residents to be aware of the potential," ODE reported. "If it gets too entrenched it can be very hard to handle."

For more information, or to report possible kudzu sightings, call ODA's Weed Control Program at (503) 986-4621.