Common name: Kiwifruit, Chinese gooseberry, Kiwi, Fuzzy kiwifruit • Hindi: कीवी • Nepali: किवी Kiwee
Botanical name:Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosaFamily:Actinidiaceae (Kiwifruit family) Synonyms: Actinidia deliciosa, Actinidia chinensis var. hispida
Kiwifruit is a vigorous and long-lived woody vine that
may reach 10 m in length. Leaves are large, round or obovate, stalked,
with entire margins, and light pubescence on the underside. Flowers are
relatively large (1-2 inch diameter), white changing to golden-yellow.
Flowers are borne on long flower-cluster-stalks in axils of leaves on
current season's growth. Although flowers are produced in few-flowered
cymes, most lateral flowers do not develop, giving 1 flower per axil. A
whorl of many stamens surrounds the ovary, although they are smaller
and produce non-viable pollen in pistillate flowers. The fruit is a
many-seeded berry with a brown, bristly peel. The flesh is green due to
chlorophyll, which does not degrade during ripening. The core or
central axis is white, edible, having 1-3 rows of small black seeds
radiating around it. Kiwifruit is native to China, but widely
cultivated worldwide, including in the Himalayas in India.
Identification credit: Saroj Kasaju, Anil Thakur
Photographed in Sourinee, Mirik, Darjeeling distt. & Shimla, Himachal Pradesh.
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The flower labeled Kiwifruit is ...