The first Westerner to collect the mihoutao was the Scotsman Robert Fortune, who in 1843 was sent by the Horticultural Society of London to travel throughout China in order, in the words of the agreement under which he was engaged, to "collect seeds and plants of an ornamental or useful kind, not previously cultivated in Great Britain and ... to obtain information on Chinese gardening and agriculture."
最早蒐集到獼猴桃的西方人，是英國的羅伯．福究。一八四三年，他在倫敦園藝協會的委託下，旅行中國各地。根據合約，他的任務是「蒐集以往沒有在英國栽培過的觀賞性或實用性的植物和種子，… … 取得中國花園以及農業方面的資料。」