Common name: Kiwifruit, Chinese Gooseberry
Actinidia chinensis Planch. APNI* Description: A scrambling woody, deciduous vine; stems bristly-pubescent.
Leaves broadly ovate to suborbicular, 6–20 cm long, 7–15 cm wide, papery, dark green and sparsely hairy above, pale green and densely white- or brownish-tomentose with simple and stellate hairs below; margin serrulate, ciliate; apex truncate, emarginate, rounded or shortly acuminate; petiole 3–6 cm long, densely hispid-setose.
Inflorescence a 1 to many-flowered cyme. Male and female flowers similar but males with numerous stamens only. Female flowers with many sterile stamens below the 20–40 spreading styles. Sepals usually 5, 1.2–1.5 cm long, brown-tomentose. Petals usually 5, 1.5–3 cm long, white, turning orange-yellow with age. Styles 7–8 mm long.
Fruit thin-skinned, ellipsoid, a berry, 4–8 cm long, brown-tomentose; pulp green. Seeds numerous, c. 1.5 mm long, dark brown to black.
Flowering: Recorded for November.
Distribution and occurrence: Possibly naturalising in Willi Willi National Park and Mosman, Sydney. Native to China. Widely cultivated around the world, including eastern Australia. Occasionally naturalised in Victoria. Cultivated in Tasmania with the potential to spread. Recorded from the edge of wet sclerophyll forest.
NSW subdivisions: *NC, *CC
Seeds distributed by birds, so occasionally establishes in natural lanscapes near cultivated sources.
Text by R.L. Barrett, Aug. 2021
Taxon concept: Fl. Victoria online (2021)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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