Akebia Decne. (1839), sometimes called chocolate vine, contains around 4 species in the family Lardizabalaceae. The name is derived from the Japanese akebi.

Description Woody climbers to 10m, with twining stems. The leaves are deciduous or evergreen, with 3–5 stalked leaflets. The flowers are vanilla-scented in some species, in spikes, the females at the base, long-stalked, the males towards the apex, smaller and short-stalked. Segments 3, chocolate-brown, rarely yellow. The stamens are 6–8, the ovaries 5–10. Pollination is presumed to be by insects. The fruits are 5–15cm long, sausage-shaped, 1–4 together, purple to brown when ripe, and splitting open to reveal white, edible but insipid pulp, in which are embedded the black or dark brown seeds.

Key Recognition Features The stalked leaves, deciduous in the commonly cultivated species, and the 3-petalled, chocolate-brown flowers are distinctive.

Evolution and Relationships Very different from the other members of the family in flower, but similar in fruit.

Ecology and Geography In rocky places and scrub, where it can scramble to the light, at up to 1500m, flowering in spring. All the species are from eastern Asia, and the most common, A. quinata (Houtt.) Decne. and A. trifoliata (Thunb.) Koidz. are found eastwards from Sichuan in China to Japan and Taiwan.

Comment The fruits of both the common species are eaten in China. They and their hybrid, A. x pentaphylla (Mak.) Mak., are grown as ornamentals for their unusual flowers. Fruit is rarely formed in England, but is common in North America, where summers are hotter and A. quinata has become naturalised from Connecticut to Georgia.