Actinidia hemsleyana
Actinidia hemsleyana is a woody climber native to south-eastern China. Kew records it in northern Fujian, eastern Jiangxi and southern Zhejiang. It belongs to Actinidiaceae and was described by Dunn in 1908.[1]
Appearance and habitat
Flora of China describes a large deciduous climber with rusty hairs on flowering shoots. Its leaves vary markedly in size and shape, with a green upper surface and a bluish underside. Small clusters bear reddish flowers. The fruits are about three centimetres long and become hairless when mature.[2]
The flora records the species in low mountain forest at five hundred to nine hundred metres. Flowering occurs in May and June, followed by fruiting in October in that account.[2]
Genetic research
A 2021 study sequenced the plant's chloroplast genome, the DNA contained in its photosynthetic organelles. The sequence was 156,845 base pairs long and was deposited in GenBank under accession MT740251.1. The researchers compared chloroplast sequences from twenty Actinidia species and found A. hemsleyana closest to A. latifolia within that analysis.[3]
That result concerns the chloroplast sequences examined. It is not a census of wild populations or a reason to merge the two species; Kew continues to recognise A. hemsleyana separately.[3][1]
Names
Kew includes Actinidia kengiana, A. subglaucifolia and A. hemsleyana var. kengiana among the synonyms of this species.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Actinidia hemsleyana Dunn. Plants of the World Online. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Li, J., Li, X. and Soejarto, D. D. (2007). Actinidiaceae. Flora of China 12, 334–360; account 28, p.347. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of Actinidia hemsleyana (2021). Mitochondrial DNA Part B, doi:10.1080/23802359.2021.1993100; indexed article text. Accessed 9 October 2026.