Buddleja skutchii is endemic to much of the sierra

Mountain range

A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...

s of Central America

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

, growing mostly in pine-oak forest, also in cloud forest

Cloud forest

A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and...

, and in shrubby secondary growth. The species was first named and described by Morton

Conrad Vernon Morton

Conrad Vernon Morton was an American botanist who did notable writings on Ferns. He was also a specialist in Gesneriaceae and Solanaceae for the Smithsonian Institution from 1928.- Publications :...

 in 1935.

Description

B. skutchii is a dioecious

Dioecious

Dioecy is the property of a group of biological organisms that have males and females, but not members that have organs of both sexes at the same time. I.e., those whose individual members can usually produce only one type of gamete; each individual organism is thus distinctly female or male...

 tree 5 - 25 m tall, with brown to blackish fissured bark. The young branches are quadrangular and tomentose

Tomentum

Tomentum may refer to the following:*In botany, a covering of closely matted or fine hairs on plant leaves. *A network of minute blood vessels in the brain.* Tomentum in zoology are a short, soft pubescence...

, bearing lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate

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 6 - 20 cm long by 2 - 10 cm wide, membranaceous to subcoriaceous, glabrescent

Glabrousness

Glabrousness is the technical term for an anatomically atypical lack of hair, down, or similar structures...

 above, below with adpressed indumentum

Indumentum

The indumentum is a covering of fine hairs or bristles on a plant or insect.In plants, the indumentum types are:*pubescent*hirsute*pilose*villous*tomentose*stellate*scabrous*scurfy...

, the margins entire

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 yellow to orange 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....

 leafy-bracted

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...

 inflorescences are 8 - 15 cm long by 8 - 20 cm wide, comprising 3 - 4 orders of branches bearing small cymules

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...

 0.4 - 0.6 cm in diameter, each with 3 - 15 flowers.

Cultivation

The species is grown at the Strybing Arboretum and Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...

 in San Francisco and in France at Le Jardin de Rochevieille http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://jaroche.perso.neuf.fr/&ei=z8SvTpC9KZTn8QOLjaGxAQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCAQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3DLe%2BJardin%2Bde%2BRochevieille.%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D585%26prmd%3Dimvns.

Subspecies

Two subspecies have been identified by Norman:

• Buddleja skutchii C. V. Morton subsp. skutchii E. M. Norman

(syn. Buddleja matudae Standl.)

• Buddleja skutchii C. V. Morton subsp. costaricensis E. M. Norman