The World of Apples

The apples that aren't

Apple berry

Billardiera scandens, Pittosporaceae

The apple berry is a sprawling groundcover or climber with wiry stems up to 3 m long and very hairy shoot tips; in the open it can grow as a small shrub3. Its bell-shaped flowers, bright yellow-cream, turn purple as they age3. It ranges from southern Queensland to Tasmania and South Australia, from coastal heath to forest and inland mallee3; Kew gives south-eastern Queensland to Victoria2.

The fruit is an oblong berry about 2 cm long, green and purple, turning yellow when ripe3. It is edible4, eaten raw when it has fallen to the ground or roasted if still green3. Its skin is hairy like a peach’s, and the Australian National Botanic Gardens likens its sweet, astringent flavour to kiwifruit3.

Its names include appleberry, apple dumpling and snotberry, and among Aboriginal names bomula in the Sydney region and karrawang in Victoria3. The name is old: J. E. Smith called the plant the “Climbing Apple Berry” in 1793, and in 1898 Morris recorded that children called the berries “dumplings”5. The flora of New South Wales calls it the hairy apple berry4.

Sources

  1. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy: Billardiera scandens, Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Supports: the accepted name and family.
  2. Plants of the World Online: Billardiera scandens, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Supports: the accepted name and the native range, "SE. Queensland to Victoria".
  3. Billardiera scandens, in Growing Native Plants, Leanne Brown, Australian National Botanic Gardens, 2002. Supports: the range from southern Queensland to Tasmania and South Australia, from coastal heath to forest and inland mallee; the habit, flowers and fruit; how the fruit is eaten, its hairy skin and its flavour; the names appleberry, apple dumpling and snotberry, and the Aboriginal names bomula and karrawang.
  4. Billardiera scandens, PlantNET, National Herbarium of New South Wales. Supports: the name hairy apple berry; the edible fruit.
  5. Austral English: a dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages, entry Apple-berry, Edward E. Morris, Project Gutenberg, 1898. Supports: children calling the berries dumplings; J. E. Smith's "Climbing Apple Berry" of 1793.