Species
+

Actinidia chinensis Planch.

Chinese gooseberry, Chinese soft-hair kiwi, Golden Kiwi, Kiwi

Climate known 70 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Actinidia chinensis is a fruiting vine native to China. It is one of some 40 related species of the genus Actinidia, and the origin of most commercial varieties of kiwifruit.

Text from Wikipedia, “Actinidia chinensis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Actinidia

Actinidia is a genus of woody and, with a few exceptions, dioecious plants native to temperate eastern Asia, occurring throughout most of China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, and extending north to southern areas of Russian Far East and south into Indochina. The genus includes shrubs growing to 6 metres tall, and vigorous, strong-growing vines, growing up to 30 m (100 ft) in tree canopies. They mostly tolerate temperatures down to around −15 °C (5 °F), and some are much hardier.

Text from Wikipedia, “Actinidia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Actinidiaceae
Described by
Planch.
Native to
China South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast +1
Wild records
526 in range· 220 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Jul, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1625mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 258 mm (CHELSA)
Light
16–33DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1625 mm a year, wettest June at 258 mm, driest December at 39 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 33 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -4.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Actinidia chinensis f. jinggangshanensis C.F.Liang; Actinidia chinensis f. rufopulpa C.F.Liang & R.H.Huang; Actinidia chinensis var. jinggangshanensis (C.F.Liang) C.F.Liang & A.R.Ferguson; Actinidia chinensis var. lageniformis S.Y.Wang & C.F.Chen; Actinidia chinensis var. latifolia A.Chev. and 3 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1158 mm of 1625 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 22.0 °C against a yearly mean of 15.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1625 mm a year, wettest June at 258 mm, driest December at 39 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1625 mm a year at the habitat, 1158 mm of it April to September. Wettest month June at 258 mm, driest December at 39 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 930 mm to 3560 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 33 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 33 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 12, the highest 90th-percentile month 37).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -4.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -4.8 °C, the absolute minimum -16.6 °C, about 38 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 1.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells -4.4 °C to 5.0 °C), warmest day 28.6 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 8 °C in Jan to 29 °C in Jul; mean night from 1 °C in Jan to 21 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1625 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 323 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -16.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost33.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)-16.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 16–33RH 61–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 323 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C8 / 4–1310 / 6–1414 / 11–1720 / 16–2224 / 19–2626 / 20–2929 / 21–3328 / 21–3224 / 19–2820 / 16–2415 / 11–1810 / 6–14
Night °C1 / -4–53 / -2–76 / 2–911 / 7–1415 / 11–1919 / 13–2321 / 14–2521 / 14–2517 / 12–2113 / 8–168 / 3–113 / -2–6
Rain mm57 / 9–10983 / 15–178125 / 33–211154 / 56–263204 / 96–369258 / 118–477226 / 146–444186 / 135–482130 / 86–52795 / 62–26868 / 25–12539 / 9–89
DLI16 / 13–2018 / 14–2322 / 17–2827 / 22–3230 / 26–3430 / 26–3433 / 29–3731 / 29–3326 / 21–2922 / 15–2518 / 14–2116 / 12–19
RH %62 / 58–6862 / 58–6963 / 58–6862 / 57–6662 / 58–6764 / 60–6864 / 60–6864 / 61–6863 / 60–6962 / 59–7061 / 58–6961 / 57–68

Each figure is the median across the 323 grid cells holding the 514 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1229:5887 (28.525, 114.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -16.6 °C, 1st-percentile night -4.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 323 distinct grid cells holding the 514 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1229:5887 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 28.50_114.375, lapse-corrected -76 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 300 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast, Taiwan· introduced: Sweden, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Missouri, Ohio, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia
Kew's description“liana” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker24.346, 121.073 · in the densest population, 200 records (38% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 526 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 220 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 18 km away. 451 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 12 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 526 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Actinidia chinensisActinidia chinensisActinidia chinensisActinidia chinensisActinidia chinensisActinidia chinensisActinidia chinensisActinidia chinensis

Photographs: (c) Jon Sullivan, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) C Fishtahler, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Katja Schulz, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Actinidia chinensis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Chloroplast genomes: diversity, evolution, and applications in genetic engineering
Henry Daniell, Choun‐Sea Lin, Ming Yu, Wan‐Jung Chang (2016) · Genome biology
Gene duplication and evolution in recurring polyploidization–diploidization cycles in plants
Xin Qiao, Qionghou Li, Hao Yin, Kaijie Qi (2019) · Genome biology
Recent Developments in Enzymatic Antioxidant Defence Mechanism in Plants with Special Reference to Abiotic Stress
Vishnu D. Rajput, Harish Mangesh, Rupesh Kumar Singh, Krishan K. Verma (2021) · Biology
Review on Natural Coumarin Lead Compounds for Their Pharmacological Activity
Katharigatta N. Venugopala, V Rashmi, B. Odhav (2013) · BioMed Research International
Advances in Fruit Aroma Volatile Research
Muna El Hadi, Feng-Jie Zhang, Fei-Fei Wu, Chunhua Zhou (2013) · Molecules
Endo-, Para-, and Ecodormancy: Physiological Terminology and Classification for Dormancy Research
Gregory A. Lang, J. D. Early, George C. Martin, Rebecca L. Darnell (1987) · HortScience
Soil Microbial Resources for Improving Fertilizers Efficiency in an Integrated Plant Nutrient Management System
Adnane Bargaz, Karim Lyamlouli, Mohamed Chtouki, Youssef Zeroual (2018) · Frontiers in Microbiology
Influence of the extraction method on the recovery of bioactive phenolic compounds from food industry by-products
Emilio Gil‐Martín, Tamara Y. Forbes‐Hernández, Alejandro Romero, Danila Cianciosi (2021) · Food Chemistry
INVASIVE PHYTOPHAGOUS PESTS ARISING THROUGH A RECENT TROPICAL EVOLUTIONARY RADIATION: The Bactrocera dorsalis Complex of Fruit Flies
Anthony R. Clarke, Karen Armstrong, Amy Elizabeth Carmichael, J. R. Milne (2004) · Annual Review of Entomology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Actinidia 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 114 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.