Sunday, June 01, 2008

Green Thumb Sunday - Chocolate

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Chocolate Vine that is.
A.K.A. Five leaf akebia, or Akebia quinata. Here is a good explainer.
From Wikipedia: "...of the family Lardizabalaceae. The scientific name, Akebia, is a Latinization of the Japanese name for species Akebia quinata: akebi (通草, akebi?)."
I think the male and female flowers on the same plant are a point of interest. My vine has never born fruit.









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8 comments:

Good Acres said...

Interesting plant and nice shots of the flowers. Happy GTS. Good Acres

Aiyana said...

I wonder if it's called Chocolate Flower because of the color or does it have the scent of chocolate? Happy GTS,
Aiyana

Anonymous said...

That dark blood red bloom looks almost like an antique paper of some sort. It is quite delicate.
Brenda

Betsy said...

Thanks for the comments- my computer has been acting up for a few days and I wasn't able to read or post them until right now.
My poor camera work doesn't really show the variation between the male and female flowers - it looks like two different flowers on the same plant. I think the folk who called it Chocolate Vine were refering to the sweet fragrance, but the dark color could have had something to do with it as well.

Anonymous said...

Great herbs,great flower.
Thank for Good article.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Betsy the photos of your Akebia look good. this is really a special climber with those beautiful coloured flowers. I always meant to get one, but...

Lindy said...

WHOOPS! I apologize. When I first found and clicked on the link to your blog it opened with Feb. 08.

Great blog - I'll be back often.

Lindy

Anonymous said...

how pretty. I've never seen anything like that. it's very interesting and I love the color. Thanks for sharing. xoxo, Joanna