Buddleja axillaris

Buddleja axillaris
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Scrophulariaceae
Genus: Buddleja
Species: B. axillaris
Binomial name
Buddleja axillaris
Willd. ex Roem. & Schult.
Synonyms
  • Adenoplusia axillaris Radlk.
  • Adenoplusia willdenowii Radlk.
  • Adenoplusia ulugurensis Melch.
  • Buddleja comorensis Bak.

Buddleja axillaris is a shrub endemic to Madagascar, the Comoro Islands, and Tanzania, growing in forests at elevations of 3001400 m. The species was first named and described by Willdenow in 1827 [1]

Description

B. axillaris is a sarmentose shrub 23 m in height, with quadrangular branchlets, often obscurely winged, and white-pubescent. The opposite leaves have thinly coriaceous ovate to narrowly elliptic blades, 630 cm long by 210 cm wide, acuminate or apiculate, abruptly narrowed at the base, minutely pilose above, but white-tomentose to subglabrous beneath, with mostly shallow crenate - dentate margins. The slender white or occasionally yellow inflorescences are axillary, solitary and thyrsoid 314 cm long by 14 cm wide, the corollas 517 mm long. [2]

The species is considered closely related to B. cuspidata and B. sphaerocalyx.

Cultivation

B. axillaris is not common in cultivation. Hardiness: USDA zone 10. [3]

References

  1. Willdenow, (1827). Mant. 3: 97. 1827.
  2. Leeuwenberg, A. J. M. (1979). The Loganiceae of Africa XVIII - Buddleja LII, Revison of the African & Asiatic species. Mededelingen Landbouwhogeschool Wageningen, Nederland. 796 (1979).
  3. Stuart, D. (2006). Buddlejas. Plant Collector Guide. Timber Press, Oregon, USA. ISBN 978-0-88192-688-0