Flora of New Zealand Series

buddleia

Deciduous shrub 1-3-(4) m high. Shoots obtusely angled, floccose, tomentose when young. Lvs with petiole to c. 1 cm long or sometimes subsessile just below infl. Stipules to c. 5 mm wide, broader than long. Lamina c. 6-20 × 2.5-8 cm, ovate, less commonly lanceolate, glabrous or nearly so above, whitish or greyish tomentose below, serrulate or crenulate, occasionally with coarser teeth; base cuneate; apex acuminate. Panicles c. 30 × 5 cm, elongated and broadly cylindric, composed of dense fragrant fls; branches tomentose; pedicels very short. Calyx c. 2 mm long, tomentose; teeth < tube, lanceolate. Corolla tube 7-10 mm long when fresh, mauve to purple, orange inside, hairy outside or, less commonly, glabrous; lobes 2.5-4 mm long, obovate, mauve to purple (sometimes white in cultivation). Stamens inserted 1/2-⅔ along tube; anthers sessile. Style not reaching level of stamens. Ovary glabrous or nearly so. Capsule 5-10 mm long, cylindric-obovoid, glabrous.

N.: abundant; S.: common in the northern half, less common further south; St.

China 1946

Riverbanks, roadsides and disturbed sites, particularly around forested areas, waste places in and around settled areas.

FL Dec-Feb-(Apr).

Buddleia or butterfly bush is abundantly naturalised to the point of being a nuisance in some areas. It has spread deep into the Urewera and other remoter parts of the North Id, and tolerates a wide range of soil conditions, even growing on the almost raw lava of Rangitoto Id.

Although there is considerable variation in the degree of hairiness of lvs and fls, as well as in corolla colour, in wild N.Z. B. davidii, there is much more variation in cultivation here. Many plants of B. davidii in N.Z. are hairier than descriptions from overseas suggest, particularly in the calyx and corolla. In these respects they approach other Chinese spp., particularly B. nivea Duthie and B. stenostachya Rehder et E. Wilson. B. stenostachya has the corolla tomentose outside as well as a tomentose ovary and the lvs are more woolly below than in B. davidii. B. nivea is extremely white-woolly with its stamens inserted near the mouth of the corolla tube.