We report the release of a new, largefruited kiwifruit cultivar, 'White', selected from Actinidia eriantha. Fruit of 'White' had a mean fruit weight of 94 g, and a maximum fruit weight of 132 g at harvest in Zhejiang, China. The mean fruit weight is c. 2-4 times that of wild A. eriantha fruit found in Zhejiang and nearly 4 times that of 'Bidan', the only other registered A. eriantha cultivar. The fruit are oblong and the peelable skin is covered with dense white hair. The flesh of ripe fruit is green and has good eating quality but little juice. The soluble solids concentration was 14.7%, total sugar 9%, total acid 1.24%, and vitamin C 628.37 mg/100 g fresh weight. Its harvest season is during the last 10 days of October in the south of Zhejiang province, which is c. 2 weeks later than A. deliciosa 'Bruno' in the same area. It is sometimes referred to as the "banana kiwifruit" because the skin is easy to peel. This new cultivar has been registered in China (PVR No. CNA20050673.0).

Plantlets were regenerated from leaf explants of Actinidia eriantha Benth. cv White (kiwifruit). The best medium for adventitious shoot formation from leaf blade strips was Murashige-Skoog (MS) medium with 0.1 mg L(1 NAA and 2.0 mg L (1 BA. The frequency of shoot regeneration (%) was dependent on the size and the part of the leaf from which the explant was taken. The highest frequency of shoot regeneration was 7.3092.61 shoots per explant, for explants taken from within 0Á3 cm of the leaf blade base, near a vein and not on the leaf edge. When using petiole-derived explants, a maximum frequency of adventitious shoot regeneration of 79.17% with 6.5492.31 shoots per explant was obtained using 0.1 mg L(1 NAA and 2.0 mg L (1 ZT in MS medium. The highest rate of rooting obtained was 96.67% when using 1/2 MS medium containing 0.6 mg L(1 IBA and 93.75% when using wet moss without IBA. This is the first report to study the effect of explants taken from different parts of the leaf blade on shoot regeneration in A. eriantha. All plantlets were transferred to pots of peat/perlite and grown on before being planted in the field. Plantlets were successfully acclimatized to field conditions and produced healthy plants.