Stauntonia obovatifoliola

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.

Fully ripe fruit has a sweet flavor described as a cross between persimmon and lychee, with soft golden flesh — a genuinely good-eating relative within a genus where several other species are only mediocre.

Hardiness

Zone 8–9

Habit

Vine

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Autumn (pods split)

Mature size

Evergreen twining vine 5–8 m; containerable with hard pruning

Light

Partial shade

Soil pH

6.0–7.0

Environment

Subtropical

Native range

Southern China — Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Jiangxi — in montane forest and scrub.

Status

Wild

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, the leaflets obovate — broadest towards the tip, the character its name records — leathery and glossy.

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

Oblong purple fruits with sweet white pulp and many small black seeds, in the manner of the rest of the family.

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.