Akebia quinata

Akebia quinata, called mock gherkin or chocolate vine in Dutch, is a vigorously upright semi-evergreen climber with a broad-spreading habit. The leaves are compound, five-lobed and palmate, the leaflets are ovate, leathery and colored dark green to blue-green. This chocolate vine flowers in April and May with chestnut-red to chocolate-coloured, pleasantly fragrant flowers in pendulous racemes, later followed by striking gherkin-like violet-purple fruits. Akebia quinata likes a spot in partial shade, full sun is also possible; provided the soil is sufficiently moist and the plant has its feet in the shade. The plant is also very hardy and once established, it is also fairly drought tolerant, it tolerates air pollution.