According to Wikipedia it is used as a landscape plant in the southwestern U.S. where it is commonly called lilac vine, and occasionally Mexican lilac vine.
It does originate "south of the border" but an awful lot further than Mexico!
I detected a slight air of disbelief when I posted about Emu sausages, well to silence the sceptics we do indeed farm Emus in Oz. When you think about it Turkeys are native to America and farmed, chickens native to South-Asia and farmed. We just do things bigger down this way!
