Buddleja dysophylla
Encyclopedia
Buddleja dysophylla is a species endemic to southern Africa, from Zaire
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...

 and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

 south to Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...

, and from the Transvaal
Transvaal
The Transvaal is the name of an area of northern South Africa. The land originally comprised most of the independent Boer South African Republic, which had existed since 1856, despite two previous attempts by the British of varying success to establish supremacy...

 to eastern Cape Province
Cape Province
The Province of the Cape of Good Hope was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa...

, where it grows along forest edges or in scrub at altitudes of 0 - 2,600 m. . The species was named and described in 1883 by Radlkofer
Ludwig Adolph Timotheus Radlkofer
Ludwig Adolph Timotheus Radlkofer , was a noted Bavarian taxonomist and botanist, who was Professor of Botany at the University of Munich....

.

Description

B. dysophylla is a straggling or scandent shrub, only erect if isolated, 1 - 10 m in height, with divaricate
Divaricate
Divaricate is a term used in identifying plants describing the pattern of branching. Divaricate branching is roughly horizontal, usually only diverging about 15 degrees upward or downward....

 branching. The densely tomentose
Tomentose
Tomentose is a term used to describe plant hairs that are flattened and matted, forming a woolly coating known as tomentum. Often the hairs are silver or gray-colored...

 branchlets are terete to quadrangular, bearing opposite, petiolate
Petiole (botany)
In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...

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

, 1 - 10 cm long by 0.7 -7.5 cm wide, acuminate
Leaf shape
In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

 to rounded at the apex, decurrent
Decurrent
Decurrent is a term used in botany and mycology to describe plant or fungal parts that extend downward.In botany, the term is most often applied to leaf blades that partly wrap or have wings around the stem or petiole and extend down along the stem...

 into the petiole; the margins irregularly serrate - dentate
Leaf shape
In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

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

. The lax terminal inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

s are paniculate
Panicle
A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....

, 4 - 20 cm long by 4 - 20 cm wide. The corollas 2.5 - 5 mm long, the colour white, cream, or mauve.

Cultivation

B. dysophylla is only known to be in cultivation in Australia, at Longueville
Longueville, New South Wales
Longueville is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Longueville is located 8 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Lane Cove....

, and at the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens
Brisbane City Botanic Gardens
The City Botanic Gardens is located on a point known as Gardens Point on the Brisbane River adjacent to the central business district of the city of Brisbane...

, where it flowers in August.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK