Buddleja speciosissima
| Buddleja speciosissima | |
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| Species: | B. speciosissima
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| Binomial name | |
| Buddleja speciosissima | |
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Buddleja speciosissima is a rare species restricted to Mount Itatiaia in Brazil, where it grows in rocky grassland at altitudes of 2,000 - 2,500 m; it was first described and named by Taubert in 1893.[1][2]
Description
B. speciosissima is a shrub 1 – 3 m high with light-brown fissured bark. It bears hermaphroditic flowers, unlike most South American members of the genus which are cryptically dioecious.[2] The young branches are thick, subquadrangular, and covered with a dense pale yellow indumentum, bearing subcoriaceous elliptic to lanceolate leaves with 1 – 3.5 cm petioles, and measuring 10 – 18 cm long by 2 – 4 cm wide, glabrescent above but tomentose below. The reddish-orange leafy inflorescences are 10 – 20 cm long, comprising 1 – 2 orders of branches bearing paired 3 – flowered cymes, the corollas 25 – 30 mm long by 4 mm wide, pollination being by hummingbirds. Ploidy: 2n = 38.[2]
Cultivation
The shrub is not known to be in cultivation.
References
