Botanical atlas

Mube Vine (Stauntonia)

Stauntonia hexaphylla

In Japan, the mube vine has been quietly beloved for centuries, its glossy palmate leaves trained over garden gates and its purple, egg-shaped fruit gathered each autumn for the sweet, translucent pulp inside. Unlike its cousin the akebia, whose fruit splits wide open when ripe, mube fruit stays closed, so pickers learn to judge ripeness by a gentle give in the skin and a deepening color. The vine's tough, pliable stems were also worked into cordage and basketry in old rural households, a practical companion to its ornamental and edible charms. Its lasting fame, though, comes from a story of imperial favor that turned a humble woodland fruit into a symbol of long life.

Safety.

This vine's fruit has long been eaten fresh in Japan with no reports of toxicity, though the thick skin and seeds are usually discarded. As with any wild fruit, be sure of identification before tasting, since similar-looking vines share its habitat.