Actinidia chinensis

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Actinidia chinensis
New variety of golden kiwifruit (Gold3 'Sungold') almost ready for harvesting.jpg
Fruit of Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis
Actinidia chinensis 247847607.jpg
Wild Actinidia chinensis foliage
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Actinidiaceae
Genus: Actinidia
Species:
A. chinensis
Binomial name
Actinidia chinensis
Varieties [1]

Actinidia chinensis is a fruiting vine native to China. It is one of some 40 related species of the genus Actinidia , and the origin of most commercial varieties of kiwifruit.

Contents

There are three accepted varieties of the species. Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa, a form which grows primarily in southwestern China that has hairier fruit, was brought to New Zealand in 1904. Varieties which were developed from these plants are the origin of the major green kiwifruit varieties. Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis is a variety which has smoother skin, and typically grows in southeastern China. Fruit from this variety were developed into gold kiwifruit and red kiwifruit cultivar in the late 20th and early 21st century, including Zespri Gold, Zespri SunGold, Jintao, Hongyang and Donghong. The third variety, Actinidia chinensis var. setosa, grows exclusively in Taiwan.

Taxonomy

The taxon was first formally described in 1857 by French botanist Jules Émile Planchon, [2] who used plants collected by Robert Fortune, who was sent to China by the Horticultural Society of London to collect plants in the aftermath of the First Opium War. Fortune's specimen was likely collected around the year 1845. [3] :37–38 The type specimen is held at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. [3] :37–38

The first recognised variety of Actinidia chinensis was Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa, described in 1940 by Auguste Chevalier. Chevalier originally considered the variety to be a type of Actinidia latifolia , but revised this to Actinidia chinensis in 1941. [4] [5] The second, Actinidia chinensis var. setosa , or the Taiwanese kiwifruit, was identified in 1952 by Hui-lin Li. [6] Other varieties have been proposed which have since been synonymised with Actinidia chinensis var.chinensis, including Actinidia chinensis var. jinggangshanensis, Actinidia chinensis var. lageniformis, Actinidia chinensis var. latifolia, Actinidia chinensis var. nephrocarpa, Actinidia chinensis var. rufopulpa and Actinidia multipetaloides. [7]

Phylogenetic analysis has shown that Actinidia chinensis var. setosa and Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa are more closely related to each other than to Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis. [8]

Description

Cross-section of a gold kiwifruit Kiwifruit 'Gold' cross section.jpg
Cross-section of a gold kiwifruit

Actinidia chinensis has a smooth, bronze skin, with a beak shape at the stem attachment. Flesh colour varies from bright green to a clear, intense yellow. [9] This species is sweeter and more aromatic in flavour compared to A. deliciosa, similar to some subtropical fruits. [9] One of the most attractive varieties has a red 'iris' around the centre of the fruit and yellow flesh outside. [10] The yellow fruit obtains a higher market price and, being less hairy than the fuzzy kiwifruit, is more palatable for consumption without peeling. [9] [10] A commercially viable variety of this red-ringed kiwifruit, patented as EnzaRed, is a cultivar of the Chinese hong yang variety. [11] Fruit colour may vary from green to lime green or gold, depending on breeding. [9]

'Hort16A' is a golden kiwifruit cultivar marketed worldwide as Zespri Gold, [9] This cultivar suffered significant losses in New Zealand from late 2010 to 2013 due to the PSA bacterium. A new cultivar of golden kiwifruit, 'Zesy002', was found to be more disease-resistant and most growers changed to this cultivar, with its worldwide demand continuing into 2019. [12] This cultivar is marketed as Zespri SunGold. [10]

Habitat

In its native habitat, Actinidia chinensis grows in thickets, thick (oak) forests (e.g. Quercus aquifolioides, Quercus oxyodon, Quercus lamellosa ), and light secondary forests and bushland. A. chinensis prefers slopes and likes also to grow in ravines, top heights of 200–230 m (660–750 ft), relative to the local microclimate. In Western gardens it may range 10 m (30 ft) in all directions, making it unsuitable for all but the largest spaces unless pruned back hard at the end of every growing season.[ citation needed ]

Range

Actinidia chinensis is found in southern China and Taiwan. Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa grows in inland forested areas of southwestern China, while Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis typically grows in warmer coastal provinces of southeastern China. [3] :49–51 The two varieties have overlapping ranges in southeastern Shaanxi, southwestern Henan, western Hubei and Hunan, where intermediate forms can be found. [3] :49–51Actinidia chinensis var. setosa is endemic to Taiwan. [3] :49–51

Varieties

Three varieties are accepted. [1]

History

Wild Actinidia chinensis growing in Zhejiang Province Actinidia chinensis 247847581.jpg
Wild Actinidia chinensis growing in Zhejiang Province

Traditional Chinese names for the fruit include míhóutáo (Chinese :獼猴桃; trans."macaque peach"), húlítáo (Chinese :狐狸桃; trans."fox peach"), ténglí (Chinese :藤梨; trans."vine pear") and yángtáo (Chinese :羊桃; trans."sheep peach"), [13] [14] [15] however no traditional distinction existed between Actinidia chinensis and Actinidia deliciosa, with míhóutáo and yángtáo being names used to refer to both varieties. [13] [3] :40 The first known references to Actinidia plants in China date to the Tang dynasty in the 800s, when sporadic attempts were made to cultivate the fruit. [13] [16] This includes a Tang Dynasty poem written by Cen Shen, set in Shaanxi, which describes a plant growing above a well; suggesting that the plant may have been cultivated in gardens during this period. [17] In the Běncǎo Yǎnyì (Chinese :本草衍義), a 12th century medicinal compendium by Kou Zongshi, describes the plant as growing along pathways deep in the mountains of China, and notes that monkeys eat the fruit. [13] Míhóutáo, including Actinidia deliciosa, were traditionally seen as a wild plant, and were often collected and sold at markets in central Chinese provinces. [13]

The first European botanist to see a specimen of the plant was Pierre Nicolas d'Incarville, who visited the Imperial Court at Beijing between 1740 and 1757. One of the specimens that d'Incarville sent back to Paris was of a yang-tao collected from Macao, however these specimens were not described when they reached Paris, and only analysed almost 150 years later. [3] :37–38 Charles Maries, collecting for Messrs Veitch noted it in Japan, but the introduction to Western horticulture was from E.H. Wilson, who sent seeds collected in Hubei to Veitch in 1900. [18]

Cultivation of Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa began in New Zealand in the early 20th century after Mary Isabel Fraser, the principal of Whanganui Girls' College, brought seeds of the plant back to New Zealand. [13] [19] [20] Over time, numerous cultivars were developed by different growers, all originating from the same plant material that was brought to New Zealand by Fraser. [13] By the 1950s, the fruit began to be exported overseas, and by 1959 the name kiwifruit was adopted. [21]

In 1957, the China National Botanical Garden sourced wild Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa seeds from the Qinling mountains of Shaanxi, growing the first specimens in a botanical institute in China. [13] By 1974, Chinese horticulturists began surveying wild germplasm of Actinidia species growing in mountainous central China, looking to develop cultivars which could compete with the popularity of New Zealand kiwifruit cultivars. [13] [22] These surveys revealed the potential for golden and red Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis varieties to become cultivated commercial crops. [13] In the late 1990s, New Zealand kiwifruit exporters Zespri began to market a gold kiwifruit cultivar grown from Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis. [13] [23]

References

  1. 1 2 "Actinide chinensis Planch". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  2. Planchon, J. E. (1847). "Sur la nouvelle famille des Cochlospermées". The London Journal of Botany (in French). 6: 303.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ferguson, A. R. (1990). "Botanical Nomenclature: Actinidia chinensis, Actinidia deliciosa, and Actinidia setosa". In Warrington, I. J.; Weston, G. C. (eds.). Kiwifruit Science and Management. Auckland: New Zealand Society for Horticultural Science. pp. 36–57. ISBN   0-908596-28-6.
  4. Chevalier, Aug. (1941). "Un Actinidia à fruits comestibles intéressant pour la France (A. chinensis Planch. var. deliciosa Chev.)". Journal d'agriculture traditionnelle et de botanique appliquee : JATBA (in French). 21 (237): 240–244. doi:10.3406/JATBA.1941.1637. ISSN   0183-5173. Wikidata   Q96002308.
  5. Liang Chou-Fen; Ferguson, A. R. (1986). "The botanical nomenclature of the kiwifruit and related taxa". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 24 (1): 183–184. doi:10.1080/0028825X.1986.10409728. ISSN   0028-825X. Wikidata   Q133873315.
  6. Li, Hui-Lin (1952). "A taxonomic review of the genus Actinidia". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. 33 (1): 1–61. doi:10.5962/P.333934. ISSN   0004-2625. JSTOR   43786583. Wikidata   Q100559822.
  7. "Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 24 April 2025.
  8. Haifeng Lin; Ling Jiang; Fuquan Zhang; Di Bai (21 October 2019). "Assembly and phylogenetic analysis of the complete chloroplast genome sequence of Actinidia setosa". Mitochondrial DNA. Part B, Resources. 4 (2): 3679–3680. doi:10.1080/23802359.2019.1678423. ISSN   2380-2359. PMID   33366140. Wikidata   Q104579682.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Ferguson, Allan Ross (1999). "New Temperate Fruits: Actinidia chinensis and Actinidia deliciosa; In: Perspectives on new crops and new uses, J. Janick (ed.)". Alexandria, Virginia: ASHS Press; Purdue University. pp. 342–347.
  10. 1 2 3 "Zespri SunGold kiwifruit". Zespri Group Ltd. 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  11. Jones, Matthew (18 March 2014). "EnzaRed reaches commercial volumes". Fruitnet.com, Market Intelligence Ltd. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  12. Skerrett, Angie (23 May 2019). "Zespri reports record revenue, as global kiwifruit sales boom". New Zealand NewsHub. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Ferguson, A. Ross; Huang, Hongwen; Costa, Guglielmo (30 November 2023). "History of Kiwifruit: Evolution of a Global Crop". Kiwifruit: Botany, Production and Uses: 1–15. doi:10.1079/9781800620933.0001. Wikidata   Q133308627.
  14. Ferguson, A. R. (June 2020). "Changing Names: Tamarillo and Kiwifruit" (PDF). New Zealand Garden Journal. 23 (1): 4–8. ISSN   1173-7425. Wikidata   Q133513057.
  15. 徐宏化; 魏芳; 杨娜; 赵佳; 杨嘉辉; 吕素华 (2017). "奇异水果猕猴桃--起源, 栽培和应用". Horticulture. 7 (1): 1–6.
  16. Cui, Zhixue; Huang, Hongwen; Xiao, Xingguo (January 2002). Actinidia in China. China Agricultural and Technology Press. ISBN   7801673425.
  17. Ferguson, A. R. (1990). "The Kiwifruit in China". In Warrington, I. J.; Weston, G. C. (eds.). Kiwifruit Science and Management. Auckland: New Zealand Society for Horticultural Science. p. 157. ISBN   0-908596-28-6.
  18. Coats, Alice M. (1992) [1964]. "Actinidia". Garden Shrubs and Their History. Foreword by John L. Creech. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 13–14. ISBN   0-671-74733-9 . Retrieved 16 January 2025 via Internet Archive.
  19. "Isabel Fraser: Hand carried the first kiwifruit seeds from China". Zespri. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  20. "Hayward Kiwifruits Namesake". Zespri. Archived from the original on 29 December 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  21. Campbell, Hugh; Haggerty, Julia (24 November 2008). "Kiwifruit - Early history, names and varieties". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Retrieved 27 March 2025.
  22. Huang, Hongwen; Wang, Shengmei; Huang, Renhuang; Jiang, Zhengwang; Zhang, Zhonghui (2002). "'Jintao', a novel, hairless, yellow-fleshed kiwifruit". HortScience. 37 (7): 1135–1136. doi:10.21273/HORTSCI.37.7.1135. ISSN   0018-5345.
  23. Ferguson, A.R. (1999). Janick, J. (ed.). "New temperate fruits: Actinidia chinensis and Actinidia deliciosa". Perspectives on New Crops and New Uses. Alexandria, VA: ASHS Press: 342–347.