Billardiera scandens

Billardiera scandens, the Common Apple Berry or Apple Dumpling, is a member of the Pittosporaceae family.

It is a slender climber or scrambling shrub with stems reaching 3 metres in length.

It has a large natural distribution, occurring along most of the NSW coastal areas, extending into the tablelands and western slopes. It extends up the coast into Queensland, mainly to the Maryborough area but with disjunct records north of Rockhampton and west of Gladstone. It grows through most of Victoria (except for the north-west). It also grows in the far south-east of South Australia and the north of Tasmania.

It is found in a range of habitats and soils types including dry and wet sclerophyll woodland and forests, heathland and shrublands, from sand to clay soils, as well as rocky areas.

Billardiera spp. have simple and alternate leaves. In this species, leaves are linear-lanceolate, up to 3 cm long and about 1 cm wide, mid to dark-green, dull in texture, with wavy margins with an overall oblanceolate to lanceolate or long-elliptic shape. Juvenile shoots are very hairy.

Billardiera spp. produce decorative 5-petaled flowers, either solitarily or in cymes. In this species, flowers are solitary or in pairs, to two centimetres long, bell-shaped/tubular and greenish-yellow in colour, with a purplish tinge as the blooms age. Spring is the main flowering period with sporadic flowers at other times.

The flowers are followed by berries about 2 cm long which resemble a minature green kiwi-fruit;  ripening to brown-purple and covered in fine hairs – giving a felt-texture.