Billardiera speciosa

Billardiera speciosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Pittosporaceae and is endemic to southern Western Australia. It is a slender climber that grows in coastal heath and has narrowly elliptic leaves with the edges rolled under and groups of purple or mauve flowers.

Billardiera speciosa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Pittosporaceae
Genus: Billardiera
Species:
B. speciosa
Binomial name
Billardiera speciosa
Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium
Synonyms[1]
  • Pronaya elegans var. minor Benth.
  • Pronaya fraseri var. minor (Benth.) E.M.Benn.
  • Pronaya speciosa Hügel ex Endl.

Description

Billardiera speciosa is slender climber that has sessile, narrowly elliptic leaves 11–19 mm (0.43–0.75 in) long, about 2 mm (0.079 in) wide and often in clusters. The edges of the leaves are rolled under and there is a small point on th tip. The flowers are arranged in groups with bracts 8–9 mm (0.31–0.35 in) long at the base. The sepals are green, hairy and 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long and the petals are spatula-shaped, purple or mauve, 9–11 mm (0.35–0.43 in) long, and fade as they age. Flowering occurs in February.[2][3]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1837 by Stephan Endlicher who gave it the name Pronaya speciosa in Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus Liber Baro de Hügel from an unpublished description by Charles von Hügel of a specimen collected by Ferdinand Bauer near King George Sound.[4][5] In1862, Ferdinand von Mueller transferred the species to the genus Billardiera in The Plants Indigenous to the Colony of Victoria.[6][7] The specific epithet (speciosa) means "showy".[8]

Distribution and habitat

Billardiera speciosa grows in coastal heath on limestone between East Mount Barren and Duke of Orleans Bay in the Esperance Plains bioregions of southern Western Australia.[2][3]

References
  1. "Billardiera speciosa". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  2. "Billardiera speciosa". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  3. "Billardiera speciosa". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  4. "Pronaya speciosa". APNI. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  5. Endlicher, Stephan F.L. (1837). Endlicher, Stephan F.L.; Fenzl, Edouard; Bentham, George; Schott, Heinrich W. (eds.). Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in Sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus liber baro de Hügel. London. p. 9. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  6. "Billardiera speciosa". APNI. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  7. von Mueller, Ferdinand (1862). The Plants Indigenous to the Colony of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Printer. p. 78. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  8. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 310. ISBN 9780958034180.
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