Description
It is a climbing shrub with vine-like branches that twine around other plants for support. The leaves are a glossy green on the upper surface, and {{convert|10|-|60|mm|1}} long, {{convert|2|-|22|mm|in|1}} wide. The inflorescence is a single hanging flower or a hanging group of up to five flowers. The flower has five petals up to 1 cm long which may be white to deep blue or pinkish in color. The fruit is a berry up to {{convert|3|cm|0|abbr=on}} long with pulpy flesh and many seeds. The purplish-green, cylindrical, sausage-shaped fruits (up to {{convert|20|mm|in|1}} in length) are initially densely hairy, but become smooth as they ripen.
Taxonomy
The bluebell creeper was first described by English botanist John Lindley in 1831 as Sollya heterophylla,[8][9] and was reassigned to the genus, Billardiera by Cayzer, Crisp and Telford in 2004.[10][11] The specific epithet heterophylla means "with various or diverse leaves".[12] Common names include Australian bluebell and climbing bluebell.[13]
Within the genus, it is closely related to two other Western Australian species - B. fusiformis and B. drummondii.[10]
Distribution and habitat
Billardiera heterophylla is native to the Avon and Eyre districts of southwest Western Australia, where it occurs in open eucalypt forest and woodland and as well as coastal heathland and near salt lakes inland. It is adept at colonising disturbed sites. Its cultivation and propensity to spread have resulted in range increase and difficulties in determining original distribution.[10]Cultivation and weed status
This plant is a widely cultivated, popular garden plant, and has been available within Australia and internationally for at least 100 years (with seeds being available in Jamaica as early as 1887).
Within Australia, in the temperate regions of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania it has become a serious environmental weed.[ It produces an abundance of seed, which readily germinates after fire or disturbance, and is thought also to spread by native animals eating the seed, which not only takes the plant to new sites, but the seed germinates more readily after ingestion.]
This plant gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit in 2013.[14][15]
References
1. ^{{cite web |last1=Govaerts, R. et. al. |title=Plants of the World online Billardiera heterophylla |url=http://plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:60433393-2 |publisher=Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |accessdate=5 July 2018|date=2018}}
2. ^{{PLANTS|id=SOHE2|taxon=Sollya heterophylla|accessdate=19 November 2015}}
3. ^Australian Native Plants Society
4. ^New South Wales Flora
5. ^1 Dept. for Environment and Heritage, South Australia
6. ^Jepson Manual Treatment, Berkeley University
7. ^Agriculture Victoria: Bluebell creeper (Sollya heterophylla)
8. ^{{cite web |title=Sollya heterophylla |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/name/apni/71803/api/apni-format |website=APNI |publisher=IBIS}}
9. ^Lindley, J. (1831) in Lindley, J. (ed.) [https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6043751 Edwards's Botanical Register 17: t. 1466.] Retrieved 5 July 2018.
10. ^1 2 3 {{cite journal|last1=Cayzer|first1=L. W. |last2=Crisp|first2=M. D. |last3=Telford|first3=I. R. H. |title=Cladistic analysis and revision of Billardiera (Pittosporaceae)|journal=Australian Systematic Botany|volume=17|issue=1|year=2004|pages=83|issn=1030-1887|doi=10.1071/SB03028}} [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ian_Telford/publication/230803073_Cladistic_analysis_and_revision_of_Billardiera_Pittosporaceae/links/0f317533352722d32d000000/Cladistic-analysis-and-revision-of-Billardiera-Pittosporaceae.pdf pdf]
11. ^1 {{cite web |title=APNI Billardiera heterophylla |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/name/apni/156605/api/apni-format |website=Australian Plant Name Index |publisher=IBIS |accessdate=5 July 2018}}
12. ^{{cite book|last=Harrison|first=Lorraine|title=RHS Latin for gardeners|year=2012|publisher=Mitchell Beazley|location=United Kingdom|isbn=9781845337315|pages=224}}
13. ^{{cite book|author1=Elliot, Rodger W. |author2=Jones, David L. |author3=Blake, Trevor |title=Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants Suitable for Cultivation: Volume 8 – Pr-So|year=2002 |publisher=Lothian Press |location=Port Melbourne |isbn=0-7344-0378-X|page=434}}
14. ^{{cite web|title=RHS Plant Selector - Sollya heterophylla|url=http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=1849|accessdate=4 June 2013}}
15. ^{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf | title = AGM Plants - Ornamental | date = July 2017 | page = 98 | publisher = Royal Horticultural Society | accessdate = 12 November 2018}}
External links
- {{Commonscat-inline|Billardiera heterophylla |Billardiera heterophylla }}
- {{Wikispecies-inline|Billardiera heterophylla |Billardiera heterophylla }}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q4911544}} 3 : Billardiera|Eudicots of Western Australia|Flora naturalised in Australia