Chinese gooseberry bearing no kiwi fruit in Myrrhee

Vine with fruit, photographed in the Dandenongs a few years ago

I first noticed Actinidia when I visited Wuhan, in central China, in 2007. That city is better known today for being the source of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, it was the kiwifruit capital of the world. 

Despite the clever New Zealand moniker, the Chinese Gooseberry, from either Actinidia deliciosa or Actinidia chinensis, are both native to southern China. Other edible species extend into Japan and Russia.

I saw in Wuhan that kiwifruit was a vigorous vine, with large heart-shaped leaves on often red stalks. Since then I've seen vines growing happily from Hobart to the Dandenongs near Melbourne, and indeed appearing over the fence of a nearby house near where I live in Glen Iris. 

Neville and Jan's kiwifruit vine (as are all the next habit pictures)

But this post was precipitated by a visit to my often mentioned friend and botanical colleague, Neville Walsh and wife Jan, at their home in Myrrhee, near Whitfield, in north-eastern Victoria. As you can see, they are growing a kiwifruit vine.

Not that they have had much to do with it, apart from some heavy pruning last year which resulted in no fruit when I was there in March. The vine was well established when they bought the property a few years ago. In fact it looks like it has a good few decades of growth in it by the thickness of the vine 'trunks' - robust enough to attach an elkhorn fern!

Actinidia is in a small family called Actinidiaceae, with two other genera, the largest of which is Saurauia, with 300 or so tropical and subtropical species. Not a genus I know anything about. The next closest relatives (outside the family) are things like the heaths (Ericaceae) and North American pitcher plants (Sarraceniaceae), which I do know!

Most species of Actinidia are dioecious, meaning you need a male and a female plant to form fruit. Neville and Jan have both but, as I said, sadly no flowers on either this year. 

That wouldn't have happened in Wuhan. My Chinese friend and fellow member of the International Association of Botanic Gardens Council, Professor Hongwen Huang is one of the world experts on kiwi fruit breeding. In a review article he and colleagues published in 2004, Professor Hongwen records 1904 as the first propagation of kiwifruit in China, and 1930 for the start of the industry in New Zealand.

Since the 1970s, when the fruit 'took off' (my words), over 100,000 hectares have been devoted to growing kiwi fruit commercially. And that figure was in 2004. I don't know the current acreage, but over 4.3 million tonnes of kiwi fruit are produced each year. 

While there is much potential for other species of Actinidia to be bred and grown commercially for fruit, the most common varieties of fruit we see today are from cultivars of Actinidia deliciosa (the typical kiwi fruit with green flesh) or Actinidia chinensis (with yellow-flesh). Kiwi berries are harvested from three different species of Actinidia, and there are a few other rarely encountered (so far at least) fruits from other species. 

Professor Hongwen predicted that Chinese production would provide half the world's consumption by 2005 or 2006, from being 'negligible' in 2004 (and primarily consumed within China). China is now the world's major producer of kiwi fruit, and at 2.4 million tonnes per year has exceeded that target. 

Italy is next, with about half a million tonnes, then New Zealand with around 400,000. Australia comes in at 15th with about 2,000 tonnes, none of which were produced in Myrrhee this year (or at least on the property I examined).

My favourite kind of kiwi fruit, to be eaten whole with skin later today...