Billardiera drummondii
Billardiera drummondii is a species of flowering plant in the family Pittosporaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a slender climber that has linear leaves and tiny nodding, blue or mauve flowers arranged in groups of up to three.
Description
Billardiera drummondii is a slender climber or twiner that has silky-hairy new shoots, the first leaves with petioles as long as the leaf blade. The adult leaves are linear, long and wide on a petiole long. The edges of the leaves are wavy, and both surfaces are silky-hairy at first, later glabrous. The tiny, nodding flowers are arranged in corymbs of up to three on a rachis up to long, each flower on a pedicel long. The sepals are narrowly triangular, densely hairy and long, the petals blue or mauve, long and about wide. Flowering mainly occurs in January and the mature fruit is a dark green or purple berry less than long, containing reddish-brown seeds.
Taxonomy
This climber was first formally described in 1854 by Charles Morren who gave it the name Sollya drummondii in La Belgique Horticole. In 2004, Lindy Cayzer and Michael Crisp transferred the species to Ballardiera as B. drummondii in Australian Systematic Botany. The specific epithet honours James Drummond.
Billardiera drummondii grows in eucalypt woodland in the Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia.
Billardiera drummondii is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.