Rawhiti Cave become increasingly finer deeper down into the cave. A short walking track leads halfway down into the cavernous opening to a viewing platform. The diverse twilight-zone flora near the entrance of Rawhiti Cave makes this cave nationally significant. Over long periods of time, plant growth on the cave formations causes them to grow towards the sunlight as more calcium carbonate is deposited regularly on top of the plant growth. This phenomenon, called phytokarst, is most evident on the larger stalactites near the cave entrance, which are strongly curved outwards due to the heavy moss and fern growth on their sunlit
Calcium supplement is rare, and difficult to achieve without administering calcium intravenously. For example, the oral median lethal dose (LD) for rats for calcium carbonate and calcium chloride are 6.45 and 1.4 g/kg, respectively. Calcium supplements by mouth diminish the absorption of thyroxine when taken within four to six hours of each other. Thus, people taking both calcium and thyroxine run the risk of inadequate thyroid hormone replacement and thence hypothyroidism if they take them simultaneously or near-simultaneously. The intravenous formulations of calcium include calcium chloride and calcium gluconate. The forms that are taken by mouth include calcium acetate, calcium carbonate, calcium