Actinidia latifolia
Broadleaf Kiwi
- Type
- Vine
- Hardiness
- USDA Zones 7–9
- Sun
- Full Sun, Part Shade
- Soil
- Moist, Well-drained
- Mature size
- Height 15–25 Feet · Spread 6–10 Feet
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Seasonality
- Deciduous
This variety is no actively in production in our propagation house and may not return to our catalogue. We maintain this page purely for reference and archival purposes. If you would like to grow this plant, tell us. Your interest helps guide what we bring back.
For a larger installation or commercial project, write hello@woodlanders.net.
Actinidia latifolia is a little-known kiwi relative, a vigorous, high-climbing deciduous vine from the warm forests of southern and southeastern China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. The broad leaves, four to five inches long and roughly two wide, carry an unusual metallic sheen that catches the light, and twining stems can climb to twenty feet or more given room and a sturdy support.
Like the familiar kiwifruit, this is an Actinidia, and the kinship shows in the fruit. Small, cup-shaped white flowers open in late spring and, on female plants, ripen by autumn into edible berries; the genus is famous for vitamin C, and Actinidia latifolia is said to bear among the most flowers and fruit of any in the group. The vines are dioecious, with male and female flowers borne on separate plants, so a planting needs both sexes for fruit to set.
Give this vine a pergola, an arbor, or a strong fence at a woodland edge, with the room a fast twiner demands, and a spot in zones 7 through 9 where the long season suits the growth. A curiosity for the collector and the edible-landscape gardener alike, grown as much for the gleaming foliage as for the fruit. Plant a male near the females, provide steady moisture, and stand back.
Small white, cup-shaped flowers in late spring; vines are dioecious