Shrub · Lardizabalaceae
Chocolate Vine
Akebia quinata
Fragrant chocolate-purple flowers and edible fruit on a climber that grows fast and needs a firm hand.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 4–8
20–40 ft · 6.1–12.2 m
Overview
Chocolate vine is a fast, twining climber grown for its early flowers and the chocolate and vanilla-spice scent that drifts off them in spring. The blooms are a deep chocolate-purple, and where two different plants grow together they ripen into odd sausage-shaped fruit with a sweet, edible white pulp. Its five-fingered leaves give it the other common name, five-leaf akebia.
It will grow almost anywhere. Hardy from zone 4 to zone 8, it takes full sun, part shade, or even full shade, shrugs off poor loam, sand, or clay, and handles drought once its roots are down. That toughness is the whole appeal, and also the whole problem.
The same vigor that covers an arbor in a season lets chocolate vine escape and smother native plants, and it is treated as invasive across much of the eastern, mid-Atlantic, and southern United States. Grow it only where you can cut it back hard and keep it off the surrounding landscape.
Care
The short version: plant it in well-drained soil in sun or shade, water it while it settles in, then stand back and prune hard, because the real work with chocolate vine is keeping it in bounds.
Light
Chocolate vine grows in full sun, partial shade, or even full shade, which is part of why it spreads so well. Full sun brings the most flowers and fruit, while deep shade still gives you plenty of leaf and stem.
Water
Give it regular water in well-drained soil while it establishes, soaking every 7 to 14 days when the top half of the soil has dried. Once the roots are settled it shrugs off dry spells and rarely needs help.
Soil
It takes almost any well-drained loam, sand, or clay and isn't fussy about much. A pH anywhere from 5.5 to 7.5 suits it, so most garden ground works without amending.
Temperature
This is a tough, cold-hardy plant, comfortable from about -29°F to 100°F (-34°C to 38°C). That range covers USDA zones 4 through 8 and lets it sail through hard winters.
Humidity
Average outdoor humidity is all it asks, so there's no number to track. The vine adapts to whatever the local air offers.
Feeding
A balanced general-purpose fertilizer in spring is plenty, and most years you can skip it. The plant already grows vigorously on its own, and extra feeding only fuels more growth to cut back.
Pruning
Pruning is the main job with this vine. Cut it back hard right after it flowers in late spring, since the blooms form on old wood, and an overgrown plant can be cut to the ground to renovate it. Expect to prune again through the season to hold it in place.
Repotting
Chocolate vine is rarely grown in pots and needs little repotting. If you do contain it, move it up a size when roots circle or escape the pot, the top growth stalls, or the soil dries out fast.
Size & spacing
Left to climb, it reaches 20 to 40 feet (6 to 12 m) with a spread of 6 to 9 feet (183 to 274 cm). Give it a sturdy trellis, arbor, or fence well away from shrubs and trees it could overrun.
When to plant
Chocolate vine flowers early, from March into May, and where a second plant is nearby the fruit ripens through fall. Set new plants out in spring once the last frost has passed, and do your hard pruning right after the flowers fade, since next year's blooms form on old wood.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: Late winter to early spring after cold stratification
- Plant: Spring after last frost
- Harvest: Flowers March to May; sausage-shaped fruit ripens in fall
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 4–8
Temperature: down to -34°C
Troubleshooting
Most chocolate vine trouble comes from too much growth, not too little. The vine is hard to slow down and harder to remove, and a lone plant often skips fruit entirely. Match what you see below, then act before the vine gets further ahead of you.
Vine swallowing nearby shrubs and small trees
This is the invasive habit that makes chocolate vine a problem in much of North America. It twines up to 20 to 40 feet, mats over whatever it climbs, and roots wherever a stem touches the ground. Cut it back hard after it flowers, keep cutting through the season, and dig out the runners before they start a new colony.
Fix:
- Cut back hard after flowering and repeat through the season to keep it in bounds
- Cut to the ground to renovate an overgrown vine
- Trace and dig out long roots (a single vine can produce roots 22 ft long); remove rooted stem nodes and seedlings
An established vine that refuses to die
The trouble is the deep root system, which can run 22 feet and resprout from any piece left behind. Cut stumps and severed roots simply push out new growth, and stray seedlings fill in the gaps. Dig out as much root as you can, treat the cut stumps, and keep pulling resprouts until they stop coming.
Fix:
- Dig out as much of the root system as possible
- Cut and treat cut stumps, then monitor and remove resprouts and seedlings repeatedly
Plenty of flowers but no sausage-shaped fruit
Chocolate vine is self-incompatible, so one plant on its own can flower for years and never set a pod. It also needs a long, warm season to ripen fruit. Grow two genetically different plants close together, or hand-pollinate the flowers with pollen from another vine.
Fix:
- Plant two or more genetically different individuals for cross-pollination
- Hand-pollinate female flowers with pollen from a different plant
Toxicity
Chocolate vine is safe around animals and people. It isn't on the ASPCA toxic-plant lists, and the white pulp of the ripe fruit is eaten in parts of East Asia. The danger here is ecological, not toxic, since the vine spreads aggressively and smothers native plants, so the caution is about where you plant it rather than who might eat it.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
Chocolate vine isn't on the ASPCA toxic list, so a curious cat nibbling a leaf has nothing to fear. A big mouthful of any plant can upset a stomach, but the vine itself carries no known poison.
Dogs None
Safe for dogs. A pup that chews the foliage or a fallen fruit won't be poisoned, though gorging on plant matter can loosen a stomach the way it would with any greenery.
Horses None
No toxin here that affects horses. They can graze near it without harm.
Rabbits None
Rabbits can nibble the leaves without any toxic risk. Introduce new browse slowly, as you would with any fresh green, to keep their digestion settled.
Livestock None
Cattle, goats, and sheep face no poisoning from chocolate vine. The real concern is the plant taking over a paddock rather than harming the animals in it.
Birds None
Birds aren't poisoned by the plant, and they happily eat the ripe fruit, which is exactly how the seeds get spread into new ground.
People None
The white pulp inside the ripe sausage-shaped fruit is edible and eaten in parts of East Asia. The rest of the plant isn't a food, so stick to the ripe fruit and treat everything else as ornamental.
No special handling needed for pet safety. The main risk is ecological invasiveness, not poisoning.
Varieties
Beyond the common purple-flowered plant, a few named forms turn up, mostly chosen for different flower color or leaf pattern.
'Alba' (also sold as 'Shirobana')
A white-flowered form that trades the usual chocolate-purple bloom for pale flowers and pale, whitish fruit.
'Rosea'
This one blooms in soft pink to rose-purple instead of the deep chocolate shade.
'Variegata'
Grown for its foliage, with leaves mottled and splashed in white and cream.
Akebia trifoliata (three-leaf akebia)
A close cousin rather than a cultivar, it carries three leaflets to each leaf where Akebia quinata carries five.
How to propagate
Chocolate vine is easy to multiply, almost too easy, since the trait that makes layering simple is the same one that lets it spread on its own.
SeedModerate
Sow fresh seed in fall, or cold-stratify and sow in late winter to early spring · Several months to a year
Seed is the slow route, since the plant is self-incompatible and you need two genetically different vines just to get viable seed in the first place. Sow it fresh in fall, or give it a cold spell and sow in late winter to early spring. Expect anywhere from several months to a year before a seedling is settled and growing on its own.
LayeringEasy
Spring to summer · One growing season
Layering is the easy way in. Pin a stem to the soil in spring or summer and it roots on its own within a single growing season, ready to sever and move. The catch is that this same eager rooting is exactly what lets the vine spread where you don't want it.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Summer (semi-ripe wood) · Several weeks to root
Take semi-ripe cuttings in summer and root them over bottom heat, which usually takes a few weeks. Once roots have formed, pot each cutting on to grow before it goes outside.
Myths
The flowers must be edible because the plant is called chocolate vine.
The name points to the flowers, but not to a snack. They are chocolate-purple and carry a chocolate and vanilla-spice scent, and that color and smell are the whole story behind the name. Only the white pulp of the ripe sausage-shaped fruit is actually eaten.