Billardiera

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Eudicots > Asterids > Apiales > Pittosporaceae > Billardiera

Other links:           

Plant  information

Common name:                Appleberries

• Also, snot berries, or bluebell creepers  

Conservation status:  unknown

Etymology:   

• The name, Billardiera honours Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière

Flowers:                  

• Arranged singly or in cymes on the ends of branches and are greenish-yellow to cream-coloured, purple or blue, the sepals free from each other

• The five petals are much longer than the sepals, sometimes free from each other, or joined at the base to form a tube with spreading lobes

• The stamens are free from each other, but sometimes have their anthers joined at the tip, encircling the style

Fruit:                         

• Succulent or fleshy

• Variously-shaped berry 

• Containing many seeds

Leaves:         

• Simple, elliptic, lance-shaped or linear 

• Arranged alternately along the stems

Stem & branches: 

• x

Roots:         

• x

Habit:        

• Woody scramblers, climbers or undershrubs with twining branches up to several metres long

Habitat:   

• x 

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to Australia

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • The genus Billardiera was first formally described in 1793 by James Edward Smith in his book A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland

  • The first species he described (the type species) was Billardiera scandens

• Species list

• The following is a list of species of Billardiera accepted by the Australian Plant Census as of May 2023:

  • Billardiera coriacea Benth. (W.A.)

  • Billardiera cymosa F.Muell. (S.A., Vic.)

  • Billardiera drummondii (C.Morren) L.Cayzer & Crisp (W.A.)

  • Billardiera floribunda (Putt.) F.Muell. – white-flowered billardiera (W.A.)

  • Billardiera fraseri (Hook.) L.W.Cayzer, Crisp & I.Telford – elegant pronaya (W.A.)

  • Billardiera fusiformis Labill. – Australian bluebell (Vic., W.A.)

  • Billardiera heterophylla (Lindl.) L.W.Cayzer & Crisp – bluebell creeper, purple appleberry, Australian bluebell (W.A.)

  • Billardiera laxiflora (Benth.) E.M.Benn. (W.A.)

  • Billardiera lehmanniana F.Muell. (W.A.)

  • Billardiera longiflora Labill. (Tas.)

  • Billardiera macrantha Hook.f. (N.S.W., A.C.T., Vic., Tas.)

  • Billardiera mutabilis Salisb. – climbing appleberry (N.S.W., A.C.T., Vic., Tas.)

  • Billardiera nesophila L.W.Cayzer & D.L.Jones (Tas.)

  • Billardiera ovalis Lindl. (Tas.)

  • Billardiera rubens L.W.Cayzer, Crisp & I.Telford (Qld., N.S.W.)

  • Billardiera scandens Sm. - hairy appleberry (S.A., Qld., N.S.W., A.C.T., Vic.)

  • Billardiera sericophora F.Muell. (S.A.)

  • Billardiera speciosa (Endl.) F.Muell. (W.A.)

  • Billardiera uniflora E.M.Benn. (S.A.)

  • Billardiera variifolia DC. (W.A.)

  • Billardiera venusta (Putt.) L.W.Cayzer & Crisp (W.A.)

  • Billardiera versicolor F.Muell. ex Klatt – pale appleberry (S.A., N.S.W., Vic.)

  • Billardiera viridiflora L.W.Cayzer & D.L.Jones (Tas.)