Skip to main content

Kōrero: Kiwifruit

Male and female flowers

Male and female flowers

Male and female flowers grow on separate kiwifruit plants. Male flowers (top) produce pollen from the numerous stamens. Female flowers (bottom) have a well-developed ovary with long sticky stigmas in the centre. Although female flowers have stamens, they do not produce functional pollen.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Natural Sciences Image Library of New Zealand

Reference: Ho4760pRbt (top); Ho4575Rbt (bottom)

by Dick Roberts

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Hugh Campbell rāua ko Julia Haggerty, Kiwifruit – The hairy berry, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/17716/male-and-female-flowers (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Hugh Campbell rāua ko Julia Haggerty, i tāngia i te 1 March 2009.

Comments

Therese
03 January 2011
I have just taken some cuttings of kiwi fruit vine from an old property in Ballarat Victoria. Apparently the vines do fruit, so there must be male and female vines. How do I distinguish one plant from another other than the flowers? Will they fruit from cutting etc. I only want a few vines for my rural property and have about 20 or so cuttings. If I have only one gender, will they still flower but not fruit etc. etc.