scarlet kadsura

Photo: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — CC BY 4.0 · 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.

Unlike its harsh, medicinal relative Schisandra chinensis, this is a genuinely sweet dessert fruit — subtle mild-grape, lychee, peach or cherry notes, floral and juicy, eaten fresh raw or cooked.

Hardiness

Zone 7–9

Habit

Vine

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Autumn

Mature size

Twining vine 6–9 m, needs trellis

Light

Partial — montane forest vine

Soil pH

5.5–7.0 (rich, moist)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Southern and central China, in montane forest and thickets — the commonest Kadsura across its range, and long used in Chinese medicine as wei jing teng.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

3–4 yrs

Growth speed

Moderate

Spacing

250 cm (98 in) apart — about 6.3 m² (67 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Alternate, evergreen and leathery, narrowly elliptic 5–10 cm, glossy dark green, on slender twining stems that are aromatic when cut.

Root system

Shallow, fibrous and wide-spreading, almost all of it in the top 30 cm, and it will not take drying out — this is a forest-floor root that expects leaf litter and shade. Mulch it, keep the root run cool, and give the top growth the light; the usual failure with these vines is a hot, bare, dry root zone.

Fruit description

A rounded compound head 3–5 cm of fused fleshy scarlet segments on a long stalk — the longipedunculata of the name. Juicy and mildly sweet with grape, lychee and cherry notes, floral rather than sharp, and a real eating fruit rather than a medicinal one.

Propagation

Seed after a long cold stratification — three months at least, and germination is still erratic. Softwood cuttings in early summer under mist are more dependable, and layering works. Since the plants are dioecious, cuttings are the only way to be sure what sex you are planting.

Pollination

DIOECIOUS — needs male + female

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.