Progress in the Phylogeny and Taxonomy of Actinidia during the Past Decade

As a result of the great success in the commercialization of kiwifruit worldwide, the past decade (ca. 2000-2010) has seen a tremendous effort dedicated to the formulation of a sound species circumscription and the establishment of a natural infrageneric classification system for the genus Actinidia Lindl. Thus, Cui and co-workers, in 2002, published a comprehensive summary of the taxonomy of the genus, based on Liang's revision in Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae and on more than 20 new species published thereafter. Then, in 2007, Li et al. published a revision of the genus as part of a taxonomic revision of the family Actinidiaceae. In an attempt to comply with the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, studies related to the nomenclatural problems in the genus have also been carried out. In 1997, Testolin and Ferguson were the first to address the phylogeny of Actinidia through the use of molecular markers. Subsequently, various other methods were applied to investigate the infrageneric taxonomy of Actinidia. As a result of these efforts, we now have a better understanding on the systematics of the genus. Nevertheless, in light of the new trends that are taking shape in the study of plant taxonomy, this genus is reviewed in the present paper and recommendations proposed for further action forward.