New Zealand's only native passionfruit. The fruit is small and egg-shaped, ripening to orange-yellow, containing edible pulp with a mild, sweet flavour. The flesh is translucent and jelly-like, with small, dark seeds. The flavour is mild and sweet, less intense than the tropical passionfruit. Not a supermarket fruit. A forest fruit. The flowers are small and greenish-white, not showy like the introduced passionfruit. They have five petals and a fringe of filaments in the centre. The flowers are followed by the fruit, which takes several months to ripen. The species is a vigorous climber, covering trees and shrubs in lowland forests. It climbs using twining stems that wrap around branches and trunks. A plant that pulls itself up. The name karewa refers to the floating or drifting habit of the vine. The plant is most common in warm, northern areas, reaching its southern limit in Otago. It is less common in cooler, drier forests. The species is endemic to New Zealand, found nowhere else in the world. A local. A specialist. Karewa is an important food source for native birds, which eat the fruit and disperse the seeds. The dense growth provides shelter for insects and lizards. The plant is not commonly cultivated but can be grown in warm, sheltered gardens. That is karewa. New Zealand's own passionfruit. Mild, sweet, and endemic. It carries on.