Chocolate Vine
Akebia quinata
Climbing Plants Difficulty: Easy
📖 About this plant
A fast-growing, deciduous twining vine with unusual maroon-chocolate colored flowers that emit a subtle chocolate-vanilla fragrance in spring. Its compound leaves with five rounded leaflets create an attractive, lacy canopy. Produces unusual oblong purple fruits in fall that split open to reveal sweet, gelatinous pulp. Can be aggressive in ideal conditions.
🧑🌾 Care requirements
☀️
Light
Partial shade to full sun (4-6 hrs)
💧
Water
Every 1-2 weeks
💨
Humidity
Moderate (40-60%)
🌡️
Temperature
10-28°C
🪴
Soil
Moist, well-draining loamy soil; tolerates clay; pH 6.0-7.0
🧪
Fertilizer
Balanced slow-release granular fertilizer (10-10-10) in early spring
📋 Plant facts
- 🌍 Origin
- China, Japan, Korea
- 📏 Max height
- 300-600 cm
- 📐 Spread
- 100-300 cm
- 🕰️ Bloom time
- Spring
- 🎨 Bloom color
- Purple, Brown
- 🍃 Foliage color
- Green
- ⏳ Lifespan
- Perennial
- 📈 Growth rate
- Fast
- ☠️ Toxicity
- Fruit pulp is edible; leaves and sap may cause mild stomach upset if ingested in large quantities
- 🌱 Propagation
- Softwood cuttings in late spring, layering in summer, or seed stratification
🛡️ Health & Safety
🐾 Pet safe
✅ Non-toxic
Fruit pulp is edible; leaves and sap may cause mild stomach upset if ingested in large quantities
Common issues
- Can become invasive in temperate regions, Sparse flowering in too much shade, Leaf spot in wet seasons
💡 Care tips
- Small maroon flowers emit a subtle chocolate scent in spring,Produces edible purple sausage-shaped fruits in fall,Twining vine that needs a sturdy trellis or support structure,Prune in late winter to maintain shape and control size
🪴 Add to My Plants
One click — added instantly. Watering every 11 days, fertilizing every 30 days.
