Apple Berry

~ Billardiera scandens ~

PITTOSPORACEAE

Billardiera scandens is well known for its apple-berry fruit and gorgeous pendulous flower bells. Its fruit has a flavour similar to stewed apple or kiwifruit – a sweet summertime snack – so let’s plant these cute dumplings around playgrounds for our children to enjoy. Its blooms are perfect vessels for birds to sip nectar from and they’ll attract honeyeaters and other nectar-lovers into your garden.

WHERE TO LOOK

Apple Berries are widespread through sandy heaths, moist forests, woodlands, tablelands in high altitudes and Mallee country. These sweet dumplings are pretty flexible in their chosen environments. They can be seen stretching from lutruwita (Tasmania) up the east coast to South-East Queensland, even dabbling a little further north. They like to hang out with Acacias, Banksias, Cinnamon Myrtles and fellow ground-covering Viola hederacea.

Locations → Queensland: Beerwah State Forest; NSW: Blue Mountains National Park, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Awabakal Nature Reserve and Malabar Headland National Park.

FEATURES

The Apple Berry is a slender woody shrub, keeping low to the ground or climbing up through rocky outcrops. It can grow 50cm tall and reach lengths of up to 3m. Its 1–6cm leaves vary quite significantly in appearance from narrow to ovate-shaped and grow on very short stalks. Its pendulous bell-shaped flowers are greenish-cream and sometimes wear a tinge of pink. Flowers grow 12–25mm and hang at the end of branches alone or in pairs. Summertime fruit forms as an oblong, hairy olive-green berry (similar to a small kiwifruit). It will mature from yellow or reddish and ripen to a translucent brown colour before falling to the ground (this is when it’s most palatable). Each fruit contains a soft pulp and many red-brown seeds.

FLOWERING SEASON

Spring and summer → Flowers bloom from spring with berries forming throughout summer.

TRADITIONAL USES

According to Greening Australia’s Koori Bush Tucker Garden, fruit is eaten ripe once it falls to the ground. If the fruit is to be eaten unripe, it’s usually roasted first.

PLANTING

For good foliage growth and fruit production, choose a sunny position, water and prune regularly and use a natural fertiliser. Cuttings strike well but seeds want a bit of attention for successful germination. Remove seeds from ripe fruit and wash them in detergent and water (repeat this several times). Smoke treatment is also known to improve germination. Plant seeds in autumn when the weather is cool. Billardiera scandens can be left to ramble in an open garden or given a structure to climb. It will also suit being planted in a large pot or will happily throw its limbs over a hanging basket.