ABSTRACT
The kiwifruit of cultivation are large-fruited selections of Actinidia deliciosa, little removed in selection terms from wild populations. The genus Actinidia (family Actinidiaceae) contains about 50 species of perennial, mostly deciduous vines, occurring mainly in the mountains and hills of southwestern China, although species are found from Siberia and Japan through China to Indochina, India, Malaya, and Indonesia. 45 , 49 Several of the species have long been used for their edible fruits when collected from the wild — the most important of these are A. deliciosa (the kiwifruit) and the closely related A. chinensis.
