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Actinidia eriantha; photograph (c) angryphyco, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) angryphyco, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-06-19

Actinidia eriantha Benth.

Velvetvine

Actinidiaceae · China South-Central, China Southeast

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Actinidia eriantha, photograph (c) Aaron Liston, some rights reserved (CC BY)Actinidia eriantha, photograph Crowhurst et al., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 3 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-4.6°C
Record low -15.0 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,178mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
16–34DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes March to August, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Actinidia eriantha is a species of flowering plant in the family Actinidiaceae, native to southern China. A large climbing shrub, it is found in low mountain forests and grassy thickets at elevations from 200 to 1,000 m (700 to 3,300 ft). It fruits in November, which has precluded its development as a commercial crop.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Actinidia eriantha", CC BY-SA 4.0.

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.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Actinidia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,506 mm of 2,097 mm) falls in March to August, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.6 °C against a yearly mean of 16.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to February.

Rain

2,097 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,506 mm of it March to August. Wettest month June at 345 mm, driest month December at 58 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,703 mm to 2,771 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,178 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,097 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 34 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 11, the highest 90th-percentile month 37).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -4.6 °C, the absolute minimum -15.0 °C, 1,493 frost nights in 44 years, 33.9 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 1.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -0.1 °C to 4.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.5 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: 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 moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

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

Light. 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.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +55 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Actinidia eriantha through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 1.8 °C; 2,097 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost33.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-15.0° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 16–34RH 61–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 26 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C10 / 8–1311 / 10–1415 / 13–1720 / 18–2224 / 21–2626 / 24–2930 / 25–3229 / 26–3226 / 23–2821 / 20–2417 / 15–1912 / 10–14
Night °C2 / 0–44 / 2–67 / 5–912 / 10–1416 / 14–1820 / 18–2222 / 19–2421 / 19–2418 / 16–2113 / 11–158 / 6–103 / 1–6
Rain mm85 / 56–133128 / 76–182217 / 125–292231 / 177–356288 / 240–383345 / 285–421204 / 145–319221 / 151–307139 / 105–24698 / 61–12483 / 60–11758 / 39–74
DLI16 / 11–1716 / 12–1818 / 15–2123 / 19–2526 / 23–2827 / 24–3034 / 29–3732 / 30–3326 / 25–2823 / 19–2518 / 16–2117 / 14–19
RH %64 / 62–7066 / 63–7467 / 64–7467 / 63–7266 / 62–7068 / 63–7165 / 60–7267 / 62–7066 / 62–6964 / 60–6662 / 60–6661 / 58–65
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 26 grid cells holding the 29 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1250:5876 (27.475, 113.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -15.0 °C, 1st-percentile night -4.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 26 distinct grid cells holding 29 of the 29 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1250:5876 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 27.50_113.750, lapse-corrected +55 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 337 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 the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, China Southeast · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker26.327, 116.343 · in the densest population, 279 records (90% of those in range)
Kew's description“climbing shrub” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 311 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 29 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 150 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 36 km away. 12 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 282 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 311 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Actinidia eriantha, photograph 1did not loadActinidia eriantha, photograph 2did not load

Photographs: (c) Aaron Liston, some rights reserved (CC BY); Crowhurst et al., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Rhododendron ovatum Rhododendron ovatum Ericaceae Photo: CC BY, angryphycoCarex scaposa Carex scaposa Cyperaceae Photo: CC BY, angryphyco Enkianthus serrulatus Ericaceae Lindera aggregata Lindera aggregata Lauraceae Photo: CC BY, Yinling ChenCornus hongkongensis Cornus hongkongensis Cornaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedArtemisia anomala Artemisia anomala Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, 鄭雪雲

Other Actinidia 10 in the reference

Actinidia arguta Actinidia arguta Tara vine Photo: CC BY, Repina TatyanaActinidia callosa Actinidia callosa Actinidiaceae Photo: CC BY, 黃美滿Actinidia chinensis Actinidia chinensis Kiwi Photo: CC BY, Jon SullivanActinidia kolomikta Actinidia kolomikta Arctic beauty kiwi Photo: CC BY, Violetta DzizyurovaActinidia macrosperma Actinidia macrosperma Actinidiaceae Photo: CC BY, Sun Jiao Actinidia melanandra Red kiwi Actinidia pilosula Actinidia pilosula Actinidiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Steve Law from Henfield, EnglandActinidia polygama Actinidia polygama Silver vine Photo: CC BY, 村山史世　（Fumiyo MURAYAMA)Actinidia rubricaulis Actinidia rubricaulis Actinidiaceae Photo: CC0, 江国彬Actinidia rufa Actinidia rufa Reddish-brown hardy kiwi Photo: CC BY, 賴碧珠

Names & registers

Also known as Actinidia davidii; Actinidia eriantha f. alba; Actinidia eriantha var. brunnea; Actinidia eriantha var. calvescens; Actinidia fulvicoma f. lanata and 2 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Actinidiaceae
Described by
Benth.
Native to
China South-Central, China Southeast
Wild records
311 in range · 150 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 27.50_113.750, lapse-corrected +55 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 17 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…