Actinidia purpurea Rehd.

A deciduous climbing shrub up to 25 ft high; young shoots mostly glabrous, without lenticels; pith chambered. Leaves oval, oblong or roundish, pointed, rounded at the base, toothed; 3 to 5 in. long; dull green and glabrous above, green and usually more or less downy on the midrib beneath; stalk 1 to 11⁄2 in. long. Flowers white, 5⁄8 in. wide, the females solitary or in threes, the males mostly five or seven in a cluster. Fruit about 1 in. long, egg-shaped to oblong, purple. Blossoms in June.

Native of W. Szechwan and Yunnan, China; found by Henry, Wilson, and Forrest; introduced by Wilson in 1908. It is most closely related to A. arguta, which has larger, brighter green, more conspicuously toothed leaves and a greenish-yellow fruit.