broadleaf holboellia

Photo: John Lindley and Joseph Paxton, drawing by L. A. L. Constans — Public domain · source

Survives zone 8 through 9

Harvest calendar

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

Creamy white, soft pulp — reports genuinely diverge, from sweet with a distinct aroma to mealy and insipid, and the fruit must be left to crack open on its own, since picked underripe it's hard and astringent. Care: Winter protection — mulch, fleece, or a warm wall.

Hardiness

Zone 8–9

Habit

Vine

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Autumn (pods split)

Mature size

Evergreen twining vine 6–8 m; containerable with hard pruning

Light

Partial shade

Soil pH

6.0–7.0

Environment

Subtropical

Native range

The Himalaya and the hills beyond it — Uttarakhand and Nepal east through Sikkim, Bhutan and Bangladesh to Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya, on into northern Myanmar and south-west China (Guizhou, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan), in montane broadleaf forest at 1,200–2,500 m.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

3–4 yrs

Growth speed

1–3 m/year — fast, evergreen, and needs solid support.

Spacing

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

Leaf shape

Evergreen, alternate and palmate with three to seven leaflets (often only three), leathery and glossy, 7–15 cm long.

Root system

Vigorous, fibrous and spreading, with stems rooting where they trail along the ground; less aggressively suckering than Akebia but still capable of covering a lot of ground.

Fruit description

Sausage-shaped fleshy pods 5–10 cm long, ripening purple, splitting along one side to reveal sweet white pulp around numerous black seeds.

Propagation

Semi-ripe cuttings in summer, or layering — the trailing stems root readily on contact. Seed is slow, best sown fresh, and can take up to 18 months to germinate.

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.