Buddleja vexans is a newly recognized species endemic to central Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, growing along streams, roads and cliffs at altitudes of 3,300 - 3,900 m. Norman adjudged the plant to be a probable hybrid between B. coriacea

Buddleja coriacea

Buddleja coriacea is endemic to much of Bolivia, growing in clearings, scrub, woodland edges, and along streams at elevations Buddleja coriacea is endemic to much of Bolivia, growing in clearings, scrub, woodland edges, and along streams at elevations Buddleja coriacea is endemic to much of...

 and B. incana

Buddleja incana

Buddleja incana is endemic to Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, growing in canyon bottoms along streams at elevations of 2,700 - 4,500 m. The species was first named and described by Ruiz and Pavon in 1798. -Description:B...

.

Description

B. vexans is a sterile shrub 3 – 5 m high with a trunk < 30 cm in diameter, the bark brown and fissured. The younger branches are terete 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 coriaceous elliptic

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 4.5 – 8 cm long by 1 – 3 cm wide, glabrous

Glabrousness

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

 and rugose

Rugose

Rugose means "wrinkled". It may refer to:*Idiosoma nigrum, more commonly, a black rugose trapdoor spider*Rugosa, an extinct order of coral, whose rugose shape earned it the name...

 above, densely 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...

 below. The fragrant golden-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 5 – 12 cm long by 5 – 9 cm wide, comprising 1 -2 orders of branches bearing heads 1.5 – 2 cm in diameter, each with 16 - 20 flowers, the corollas 4 – 5 mm long.

A popular garden plant in Peru, Norman considers B. vexans to have the greatest horticultural merit of all the American buddlejas.