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The Kiwifruit Genome pp 1–13Cite as

Botanical Description

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Part of the book series: Compendium of Plant Genomes ((CPG))

Abstract

Kiwifruit belong to Actinidia, a genus comprising more than 50 species found mainly in southern China. All members of the genus are climbing plants and are functionally dioecious. The fruit are berries with seed embedded in a fleshy pericarp. The kiwifruit of commerce are large-fruited selections of two varieties of the species, A. chinensis Planch.: A. chinensis var. chinensis and A. chinensis var. deliciosa (A. Chev.) A. Chev., formerly known as A. deliciosa (A. Chev.) C.F. Liang et A.R Ferguson. Other Actinidia species are grown on a small scale or have limited commercial potential: A. arguta (Sieb. et Zucc.) Planch. ex Miq., A. eriantha Benth. and A. kolomikta (Maxim. et Rupr.) Maxim. Commercial cultivation techniques must take into account the biological characteristics such as the growth habit, flowering and dioecism. Diversity in fruit characteristics, such as flesh colour and flavour, potential health benefits and responses to storage are important commercially.

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Acknowledgements

I thank LG Fraser, FA Gunson, SZ Hanley and AG Seal for their helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, Private Bag 92169, Auckland Mail Centre, Auckland, 1042, New Zealand

    Allan Ross Ferguson

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  1. Allan Ross Ferguson
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Correspondence to Allan Ross Ferguson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agriculture, University of Udine, Udine, Italy

    Raffaele Testolin

  2. Chinese Academy of Sciences, South China Botanical Garden, Guangzhou, China

    Hong-Wen Huang

  3. for Plant & Food Research, The New Zealand Institute, Auckland, New Zealand

    Allan Ross Ferguson

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Ferguson, A.R. (2016). Botanical Description. In: Testolin, R., Huang, HW., Ferguson, A. (eds) The Kiwifruit Genome. Compendium of Plant Genomes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32274-2_1

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