Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
kiwifruit
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Lianes & Related Trailing Plants - Dicotyledons
Flower colours
White
Detailed description
Vigorous, dioecious, densely hairy vine. Shoots have shaggy, reddish, simple hairs when young. Petioles reddish tomentos, very variable in length but usually less than lamina. Lamina to about 14 X 14 cm, broadly ovate, with tomentum of whitish hairs beneath, also with simple scattered reddish hairs but becoming almost hairless above, margins denticulate or ciliate. White flowers to about 6 cm across (larger on female than male plants). Fruit 4-8 x 3-4 cm, brown and hairy with green flesh and numerous small black seeds.
Similar taxa
Quite similar to A. chinensis, is easily identified by the distinctive coat of red hairs on young shoots.
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Actinidiaceae
Synonyms
Actinidia deliciosa (A.Chev.) C.F.Liang & A.R.Ferguson
Ecology
Flowering
October, November, December
Year naturalised
1982
Origin
S. China
Reason for introduction
Agricultural
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial.
Other information
Etymology
actinidia: From the Greek aktis ‘ray’ or ‘star’, referring to the star-like flowers or rayed stigmas of the female blooms
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
ACTCVD