long-racemed akebia

Photo: peganum from Henfield, England — CC BY-SA 2.0 · source

Survives zone 7 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Akebia: sweet but INSIPID pulp — in Japan the bitter RIND is the prized part. Decaisnea bland and watery.

Hardiness

Zone 7–9

Habit

Vine

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Autumn (pods split)

Mature size

Twining semi-evergreen vine 6–10 m; containerable with hard pruning

Light

Partial shade

Soil pH

6.0–7.0

Environment

Montane

Native range

Taiwan and adjacent south-eastern China, in montane forest; much the rarest of the three in cultivation.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

3–4 yrs

Growth speed

3–6 m/year — very fast, and capable of smothering supports and neighbouring shrubs.

Spacing

300 cm (118 in) apart — about 9 m² (97 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Alternate and palmate, usually with five leaflets, carried on notably long slender flower racemes — the 'longeracemosa' that names it.

Root system

Vigorous, fibrous and strongly suckering, spreading widely by underground runners and rooting wherever a trailing stem touches soil — the main reason it naturalises so aggressively where it has escaped.

Fruit description

Sausage-shaped pods similar to the other akebias, ripening purplish and splitting to reveal sweet whitish pulp around many small black seeds.

Propagation

Semi-ripe cuttings in summer root readily, and layering is almost automatic since stems root on contact. Seed needs cold stratification and gives variable plants. ⚠ For fruit you must raise two genetically distinct plants — cuttings off one vine are a single clone and will never cross.

Pollination

SELF-INCOMPATIBLE — plant 2 genetically distinct vines (a common failure)

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.