Austrobaileya is the sole genus with the sole recognised species of lianas, that constitutes the entire flowering plant family Austrobaileyaceae. The species Austrobaileya scandens grows naturally only (endemic) in the Wet Tropics rainforests of north eastern Queensland, Australia.

The name A. maculata is recognised as a synonym of A. scandens.

Austrobaileya plants grow as woody lianas or vines. Their main growing stems loosely twine, with straight, extending, leafy branches. The leaves are leathery, veined and simple. The leaves produce essential oils in spherical ethereal oil cells. Their foliage is damaged by oxidation in direct sunlight, so it tends to grow beneath the rainforest canopy, in low-sunlight and very humid conditions. Like many other flowering plants growing in the understory of tropical rainforest, it does not have palisade mesophyll tissue or low leaf photosynthetic rates. It relies strongly on vegetative reproduction for continuation of the species.