NL·0001Herbarium of the Nature Library
- Name
- Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa
- Family
- Actinidiaceae
- Native to
- Central and south-west China (Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hubei, Henan); cultivated in New Zealand, Italy, Chile and elsewhere
- Habitat
- Temperate montane forest edges, Vineyard-style orchards
Kiwifruit
Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa
Also calledActinidia deliciosa (synonym) · Mí hóu táo (Chinese, 'macaque peach') · Chinese gooseberry (old English trade name) · Kiwi (worldwide) · Kiui (Japanese) · Yáng táo (Chinese)
A vigorous woody climber of China's Yangtze valley forests, brought to New Zealand in 1904 by schoolteacher Isabel Fraser and rebranded 'kiwifruit' in 1959 for export. iNaturalist treats it as a variety of Actinidia chinensis.
Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa, also known as Actinidia deliciosa, green kiwifruit or the fuzzy kiwifruit, is a fruiting vine native to central Southern China, growing naturally at altitudes between 800 and 1,400 metres. The vine was the first commercially available cultivated variety of kiwifruit, and is the source of many of the green varieties of kiwifruit, including the most popular cultivar globally, Hayward, as well as the Chinese cultivars Qinmei, Guichang and Miliang No. 1. Wikipedia
What it can do
- iDioecious: separate male and female vines; one male pollinates up to about eight females
- iiFlowers produce no nectar, so bees visit only for pollen
- iiiContains actinidin, a protease that tenderises meat and stops gelatin from setting
- ivTwining stems can climb 9 m or more
At the table
Eatenfruit (flesh and skin)
Fruit and fuzzy skin are edible. Kiwi allergy is relatively common and can be severe, especially in children; actinidin may make the mouth sore.
In the medicine cabinet
| Tradition | Use |
|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese Medicine | Fruit to clear heat and quench thirst; root in folk remedies |
| Modern clinical nutrition | Two kiwifruit a day shown in trials to ease chronic constipation; EU-authorised claim for normal bowel function (green kiwi) |
Weight of evidence
Moderate. Some clinical trials with promising but limited or mixed results.
Active compounds
actinidin, vitamin C, dietary fibre, lutein
Fruit & seed
Fruit
Berry
Ripens: Autumn (picked firm, stores for months)
Oval berry 5–8 cm with thin brown skin covered in stiff hairs; bright emerald-green flesh with a pale core ringed by tiny black seeds.
Seed
~2 mm
Tiny, flattened, oval, black to dark-brown seeds about 1.5–2 mm, arranged in a ring around the white core; over 1,000 per fruit
- Dispersal
- Birds and mammals
- Germination
- Cold-stratify 4–8 weeks, surface-sow at 20–25 °C; 2–4 weeks. Half of seedlings will be male; fruiting takes 4–7 years
How to grow it
Hardiness (USDA zones)
USDA 7–9. Survives winters down to about -18 °C.
- Light
- Full sun, with shelter from strong wind
- Water
- High; regular deep watering in summer
- Soil
- Deep, fertile, well-drained, slightly acidic (pH 5.5–7)
- Propagation
- Grafting or cuttings of named female cultivars (e.g. 'Hayward') and male pollinisers
- To harvest
- 3–5 years
- Climates
- Warm temperate, Humid subtropical, Mediterranean
- 1Plant at least one male vine (e.g. 'Tomuri') for every 6–8 female vines (e.g. 'Hayward'), 4–5 m apart.
- 2Build a strong T-bar trellis or pergola about 1.8 m high before planting — mature vines are very heavy.
- 3Train one trunk to the wire, then two permanent arms (cordons) along it; fruiting canes hang from these.
- 4Prune hard in winter, cutting fruited canes back and tying in new canes; summer-prune to control vigour. Protect spring shoots from late frost.
- 5Pick firm in autumn when seeds are black and sugars reach about 6.5 °Brix; ripen in a bag with an apple at room temperature.
Can it grow where you are?
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Native range
Central and south-west China (Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hubei, Henan); cultivated in New Zealand, Italy, Chile and elsewhere
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
Woodcuts and engravings matched from the Source Library’s scanned books by name. Plates marked “relative” show a close kin rather than this exact species. Click a plate to read the page it came from, with translation.
In the stacks
Marginalia
The botanist E. H. Wilson collected it in Hubei in 1900, and Isabel Fraser carried seeds home to Whanganui, New Zealand, from a mission school in Yichang in 1904. In 1959 New Zealand exporter Turners & Growers renamed it 'kiwifruit', after the national bird, partly to avoid US tariffs on 'melons' and 'berries'.
Curiosity
Almost all green kiwifruit sold worldwide is the single cultivar 'Hayward', bred by Hayward Wright in Auckland in the 1920s.
Photographs: iNaturalist contributors under the licences shown. Records: GBIF.org. Historical plates: Source Library (CC BY-SA 4.0; originals public domain). Summary text: Nature Library editors and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Medicinal and edibility notes are historical and educational, not advice.