Actinidiaceae
| Actinidiaceae | ||||||||||
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 Actinidia deliciosa | ||||||||||
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| Actinidia |
Actinidiaceae is a small family of plants. It includes three genera and about 360 species.
They are temperate and subtropical woody vines, shrubs and trees, native to Asia (Actinidia or kiwifruit, Clematoclethra, Saurauia) and Central America and South America (Saurauia only). Saurauia is with its 300 species the largest genus in this family.
The plants are usually small trees or shrubs, or sometimes vines (Actinidia). The alternate, simple, spiral leaves have serrate or entire margins. They lack stipules or are minutely stipulate. They are often beset with rather flattened bristles.
The flowers grow solitary or are aggregated in terminal cymes, with free sepals and petals. The numerous stamens are originally attached at the back. They invert just before the flower starts expanding, so that their bases become apical.
The plants may be monoecious, dioecious or hermaphroditic. The fruit is usually a berry, such as the edible kiwifruit, a cultivar from the genus Actinidia.