Morphology of the fruit hairs in cultivars of Actinidia deliciosa var. deliciosa Actindia eriantha , and Actinidia rufa

Abstract The morphology of the fruit hairs in Actinidia rufa, Actinidia eriantha , and cultivars of Actinidia deliciosa var. deliciosa was studied using light and scanning electron microscopy. Actinidia rufa is covered by small two‐celled uniseriate hairs; Actinidia eriantha and Actinidia deliciosa are covered with two types of hairs, large multiseriate hairs and small, two‐celled uniseriate hairs. The large hairs differ between species in cell arrangement and orientation. The small hairs of both species and those of Actinidia rufa are similar in form but may differ in length. Among the cultivars of Actinidia deliciosa the large hairs differ in size and number of layers of cells. ‘Elmwood’ and ‘Downy’ are at the extremes of the range and the other cultivars form intermediates between them. Hair characters were not found to be sufficiently different to enable the identification of all cultivars from the fruit surface alone.