Buddleja polycephala is a shrub endemic to southern Ecuador and areas around Ayabaca and Piura, and Cajamarca in Peru, at elevations of 2,000 – 2,700 m. The species was first named and described by Kunth in 1818.[1][2]
| Buddleja polycephala | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Scrophulariaceae |
| Genus: | Buddleja |
| Species: | B. polycephala
|
| Binomial name | |
| Buddleja polycephala | |
Description
editBuddleja polycephala is a dioecious sprawling shrub 1 – 5 m tall. The young branches are quadrangular and tomentose, bearing ovate or ovate-lanceolate membranaceous leaves 9 – 25 cm long by 4 – 10 cm wide, initially thickly tomentose but later glabrescent above, but remaining tomentose below. The yellowish white inflorescences are 15 – 40 cm long, and as wide at the base, with leafy-bracted primary and secondary branches perpendicular to each other. The flowers are borne as compact heads, approximately 1 cm in diameter, each with around 20 flowers, the corollas 3 mm long.[2]
Cultivation
editThe species is not known to be in cultivation.
Varieties
editNorman[2] identifies two varieties, both distinguished by minor differences in the leaves:
- Buddleja polycephala Kunth var. polycephala
- Buddleja polycephala Kunth var. peruviana (J. F. Macbr.) E. M. Norman