Billardiera ovalis is a species of flowering plant in the family Pittosporaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. It is a woody, creeping scrambler with thick, egg-shaped or elliptic leaves, and creamy-yellow flowers arranged singly in leaf axils, but turning red as they age.
Billardiera ovalis is a woody, creeping scrambler with shaggy-hairy new shoots. Its leaves are clustered on short side-shoots and are spatula-shaped at first, later egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, or elliptic, long, about wide and more or less sessile. The leaves are thick, both surfaces pale green and waxy, streaked with purplish-red on the lower surface. The flowers are arranged singly on hairy peduncles long. The sepals are broadly egg-shaped, reddish-purple and overlap each other, long and about wide. The petals are creamy-yellow, turning wine red as they age, and less than long. Flowering occurs in summer and the mature fruit is usually a bright red, egg-shaped berry about long.[1] [2]
Billardiera ovalis was first formally described in 1834 by John Lindley in Edwards's Botanical Register.[3] [4] The specific epithet (ovalis) means "oval" or "elliptic".[5]
This species of billardiera grows in scrub on coastal dolerite from King Island to south-eastern Tasmania.