Leaf

Sauvages de Beaumont, Tela Botanica · CC BY-SA 2.0

Chocolate vine

Akebia quinata (Thunb. ex Houtt.) Decne.

Also known as: Five-leaf akebia

Family: Lardizabalaceae

Climbing vine 6 to 10 m

Planted on a pergola or trellis, cool, well-drained soils

Flowering: March – April

Full sun

Part shade

Hardy, to about -20°C

❓ How do you recognise this plant?

The purple fruit of chocolate vine, rarely formed in the French climate because the plant is often self-sterile, reveals at maturity a sweet white pulp whose taste is compared to a tropical fruit jelly.

🍃 Leaves

Semi-evergreen, compound with 5 rounded leaflets arranged like a fan

🌸 Flowers

Small, purple-brown, vanilla-scented, grouped in small racemes

🍎 Fruits

Large fleshy purple pod, edible, splitting open when ripe to reveal a sweet white pulp

🪵 Bark

Woody climbing vine with twining stems.

🗺️ Distribution

Native to Japan, China and Korea; planted in France as an ornamental climber

🐝 Value for pollinators

Fragrant early flowering, appreciated by the first bees of spring

✂️ Horticultural uses

Vigorous ornamental climber planted for its unusual fan-shaped foliage and its unusual edible fruit, rare in French cultivation

⚠️ Possible toxicity

The ripe fruit is eaten in some regions of Asia. Do not conclude from this that all parts of the plant are edible.

ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.

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