Billardiera longiflora

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{Use Australian English|date=July 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{italic title}} {{speciesbox | name = Purple apple-berry | image = Billardiera longiflora.jpg | image_caption = | genus = Billardiera | species = longiflora | authority = Labill.<ref name="APC">{{cite web |title=''Billardiera longiflora'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/55408|website=Australian Plant Census|accessdate=28 May 2023}}</ref> | synonyms_ref = <ref name="APC" /> | synonyms = * ''Billardiera longiflora'' subsp. ''alpina'' Rodway nom. inval., pro syn. * ''Billardiera longiflora'' var. ''alpina'' Rodway * ''Billardiera longiflora'' Labill. var. ''longiflora'' * ''Labillardiera longiflora'' (Labill.) Schult. }} thumb|Fruit

'''''Billardiera longiflora''''' is a species of flowering plant in the family Pittosporaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. It is a woody twiner or climber that has variably-shaped, often elliptic leaves, often varying with altitude, and greenish-yellow, pendent, tube-shaped flowers arranged singly and turning blue as they age. This species is often confused with the similar ''Billardiera macrantha'' of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania.

==Description== ''Billardiera longiflora'' is a woody twiner or climber, its new shoots hairy, but become glabrous with age. Its adult are leaves variably shaped, at lower altitudes, narrowly egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, {{cvt|18–25|mm}} long and {{cvt|5–6|mm}} wide on a petiole {{cvt|1–2|mm}} long. At higher altitudes, the leaves are almost linear, {{cvt|15–35|mm}} long and {{cvt|2–3|mm}} wide. The flowers are arranged singly on a pendent peduncle {{cvt|10–14|mm}} long. The sepals are egg-shaped, {{cvt|3–5|mm}} long and purplish-blue. The petals are {{cvt|16–24|mm}} long, greenish-yellow, turning blue as they age, and joined at the base, the lobes spreading but not turned back. Flowering mostly occurs in summer and the mature fruit is a glossy purple berry {{cvt|13–20|mm}} long, the seeds about {{cvt|1.8|mm}} long.<ref name="foa">{{cite web |title=''Billardiera longiflora'' |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Billardiera%20longiflora |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra |access-date=8 June 2023}}</ref>

==Taxonomy== ''Billardiera longiflora'' was first formally described in 1805 by Jacques Labillardière in his ''Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen''.<ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Billardiera longiflora''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/457562|publisher=APNI|access-date=8 June 2023}}</ref><ref name="Labill.">{{cite book |last1=Labillardière |first1=Jacques |title=Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen |date=1805 |location=Paris |pages=64–65 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/126969#page/63/mode/1up |access-date=8 June 2023}}</ref> The specific epithet (''longiflora'') means "long-flowered",<ref name="Sharr">{{cite book |last1=Sharr |first1=Francis Aubi |last2=George |first2=Alex |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2019 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=242 |edition=3rd}}</ref> but this species has shorter flowers that the more common ''B. macrantha'' with which it is often confused.<ref name="foa" />

==Distribution and habitat== This species of billardiera only occurs in eucalypt woodland and forest in Tasmania.<ref name="foa" /><ref name="utas">{{cite web |last1=Jordan |first1=Greg |title=''Billardiera longiflora'' |url=https://www.utas.edu.au/dicotkey/dicotkey/Pittosp/sBillardiera_longiflora.htm |publisher=University of Tasmania |access-date=8 June 2023}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

longiflora Category:Endemic flora of Tasmania Category:Plants described in 1805 Category:Taxa named by Jacques Labillardière