Actinidia deliciosa Cultivation spread from China in the early 20th century when seeds were introduced to New Zealand by Isabel Fraser, the principal of Wanganui Girls' College, who had been visiting mission schools in China. The seeds were planted in 1906 by a Wanganui nurseryman, Alexander Allison, with the vines first fruiting in 1910. People who tasted the fruit thought it had a gooseberry flavour, so began to call it the Chinese gooseberry, but being from the genus "Actinidia", it is not related to the gooseberry family, Grossulariaceae. The familiar cultivar "Actinidia deliciosa" 'Hayward' was developed by Hayward Wright in Avondale, New
Gooseberry light reach the new growth. Cultivar 'Invicta' now is a popular green gooseberry which has some mildew resistance. Numerous cultivars have been developed for both commercial and domestic use. The following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:- Gooseberry bushes are vulnerable to magpie moth ("Abraxas grossulariata") caterpillars. In cultivation, the best method for removing them is to remove the larvae by hand soon after they hatch; its eggs are laid on fallen gooseberry leaves. Gooseberry plants are also a preferred host plant for comma butterfly ("Polygonia c-album"), whose larvae frequently feed upon the plant during the