Buddleja cordata is endemic to Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, growing along forest edges and water courses at elevations of 1500 – 3000 m.

Description

B. cordata is a large deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

 shrub or tree < 20 m tall in the wild. The bark of the stem is furrowed, brownish or blackish in colour. The cordate

Leaf shape

In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

 leaves are opposite and paired. The small flowers range from white to yellow, and form loose terminal panicles.

Cultivation

The species is cold hardy in the UK. A large specimen grows in the Centenary Border of the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens

Sir Harold Hillier Gardens

The Sir Harold Hillier Gardens is an arboretum comprising 72 hectares accommodating over 42,000 trees and shrubs in about 12,000 taxa, notably a collection of oaks, camellia, magnolia and rhododendron....

 in Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, another as part of the NCCPG national collection at Longstock Park

Longstock Park

Longstock Park is a country estate in the civil parish of Longstock in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. Formerly Longstock Manor, of medieval origins, it was purchased by Sir Joshua East in the nineteenth century. On his death, the estate passed to his sons Alfred and Arthur. In...

 Nursery, also in Hampshire.

Uses

The species (and the genus as a whole) contain secondary metabolites such as flavonoids and iridoid

Iridoid

Iridoids are a class of secondary metabolites found in a wide variety of plants and in some animals. They are monoterpenes biosynthesized from isoprene and they are often intermediates in the biosynthesis of alkaloids. Chemically, the iridoids usually consist of a cyclopentane ring fused to a...

 glycosides which have shewn much promise in the treatment of cancers and a wide range of other disorders.

Suppliers

UK nurseries stocking the plant can be found in the RHS Plantfinder
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/plantfinder2.asp?crit=buddleja&Genus=Buddleja.