Stemona australiana is a plant species native to tropical south-east Asia, including northern Australia and Papua New Guinea. It grows as a herb or climber up to two metres high. It was first published by George Bentham in 1878 under the name Roxburghia javanica var. australiana, indicating that it was considered a variety of the plant now known as Stemona javanica. In 1896 Charles Henry Wright transferred it into Stemona, a name for the genus which had priority over Roxburghia, at the same time promoting it to species rank as Stemona australiana.