Buddleja Houst. ex L.

Trees or shrubs; young branchlets conspicuously vested with stellate trichomes, frequently tetragonal; older branches glabrate, soon becoming woody and develop-ing furrowed bark at the surface. Leaves simple, typically decussate, petiolate or sessile, with only a stipular line connecting the petioles (rarely with well developed foliaceous stipules); blades variable in size and shape, pinnately nerved, the lower surface conspicuously pubescent with stellate trichomes, often also with smaller glandular trichomes underlying the stellate pubescence, the upper surface more sparsely pubescent or sometimes glabrous. Inflorescences basically paniculate but varying from a rather loose, terminal panicle with ultimate dichasial units to a racemose series of cymules (sometimes pseudoverticillate in appearance) or a com-pact head. Flowers usually rather small, actinomorphic, often functionally d 9 (the sterile organ or organs sometimes poorly developed); calyx green, usually covered with a stellate tomentum, the 4 lobes usually shorter than (sometimes equal to) the tube, persistent in fruit; corolla yellow, orange or white (pink or purple in some oriental and African species), campanulate, funnelform or salver-form, covered externally with stellate trichomes, internally with simple unicellular (and pitted) hairs which are distributed variously, the lobes 4, valvate or imbricate, usually shorter than the tube; stamens 4, inserted on the upper l/2 of the corolla-tube; ovary ovoid or subglobose, 2-locular, the number of ovules per locule vari-able, the style single, short, usually not extending appreciably beyond the corolla-lobes, the stigma clavate, usually notched at the apex. Capsules ovoid to oblong, less frequently subglobose, dehiscing septicidally, subsequently splitting loculicid-ally but only at the apex; seeds not exceeding 1.5 mm in length, ovate to oblong or slender and elongate, winged or wingless.

Heliophilous shrubs of open terrain, shrubby vegetation, and forest borders, often invading disturbed places, from the lowland to high up in the mountains (especially some andine species). Many species have fragrant flowers and are frequented by many insects; the widely cultivated B. davidii is well known to attract many butterflies. The seeds of the species with capsular fruits are wind-dispersed; those from the species bearing berries may be dispersed by birds or other animals.

Uses. The leaves of some species are used as a wash on account of the presence of saponin; for the same reason some species are used as a fish-poison. Moreover, some are used in medicine. A few species are commonly planted as ornamentals.