Buddleja speciosissima
Buddleja speciosissima is a rare species restricted to Mount Itatiaia in Brazil, where it grows in rocky grassland at elevations of 2,000–2,500 m. It was first described and named by Paul [Hermann Wilhelm Taubert|Taubert] in 1893.
Description
Buddleja speciosissima is a shrub 1-3 m high with light-brown fissured bark. It bears hermaphroditic flowers, unlike most South American members of the genus which are cryptically dioecious. The young branches are thick, subquadrangular, and covered with a dense pale yellow indumentum, bearing subcoriaceous elliptic to lanceolate leaves with 1-3.5 cm petioles, and measuring 10-18 cm long by 2-4 cm wide, glabrescent above but tomentose below. The reddish-orange leafy inflorescences are 10-20 cm long, comprising 1-2 orders of branches bearing paired three flowered cymes, the corollas 25-30 mm long by 4 mm wide, pollination being by hummingbirds. Ploidy: 2n = 38.
Cultivation
The shrub is rare in cultivation.