three-leaf akebia

Photo: by monado — CC BY-SA 2.5 · source

Survives zone 5 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 5–9

Habit

Vine

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Autumn (pods split)

Mature size

Twining vine 8–10 m; containerable with hard pruning

Light

Full sun to partial — roots shaded, top in sun

Soil pH

6.0–7.0

Environment

Temperate

Native range

China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan; woodland edges and hill scrub.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

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 with three broadly ovate leaflets — the three-leaflet count separating it from A. quinata — with distinctly wavy, shallowly lobed margins.

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 6–13 cm long, ripening violet to greyish-purple and splitting along one side; the white pulp inside is sweet and faintly perfumed, with numerous small black seeds through it.

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.