''Buddleja araucana'' is endemic to the semi-deserts and steppes of

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

, from southern Mendoza to Río Negro and Neuquen provinces in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, and adjacent

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

.Norman, E. M. (2000). Buddlejaceae. ''Flora Neotropica 81''. New York Botanical Garden, USA The species was first described and named by Philippi in 1873,Philippi, R. A. (1873). ''Anales Univ. Chile'' 525-526, 1873; it was introduced to cultivation by the British gardener and plant collector Harold Comber

as a form ''B. globosa'' in 1925.Bean, W. J. (1914). ''Trees and shrubs hardy in the British Isles''. Eighth edition, revised by D. L. Clarke, 1989. Vol. 1, A-C. Murray, London.

Description

''B. araucana'' is a dioecious shrub, 1–3 m tall, with grey fissured bark. The young branches are

terete Terete is a term in botany used to describe a cross section that is circular, or like a distorted circle, with a single surface wrapping around it.Lichen Vocabulary, Lichens of North America Information, Sylvia and Stephen Sharnoff/ref> This is u ...

and

tomentose Trichomes (); ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a pl ...

, bearing

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

coriaceous This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

leaves linear to lanceolate tomentose on both sides, 3–9 cm long by 0.8–1.8 cm wide. The light orange

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. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

comprises one terminal

globose A sphere () is a geometrical object that is a three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is the ...

head and 1–5 pairs of pedunculate heads in the axils of the progressively larger leaves; the heads are 1–2 cm in diameter and contain 25–45 flowers, the corolla is tomentulose, 4–5 mm long, with warty hairs inside.

Ploidy Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell (biology), cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for Autosome, autosomal and Pseudoautosomal region, pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of mat ...

: ''2n'' = 38. The species is easily confused with ''B. globosa'', but the latter has larger, more glabrous leaves, and larger flowerheads comprising more flowers.

Cultivation

The shrub has proved hardy in the UK, where it has survived at

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

since 1927. It is also cultivated at the RBG Edinburgh, and as part of the

NCCPG Plant Heritage, formerly known as the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG), is a botanical conservation organisation in the United Kingdom and a registered charity. It was founded in 1978 to combine the talents of b ...

National Buddleja Collections at

Longstock Park Longstock Park is in the civil parish of Longstock in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England, and forms part of the Leckford Estate (1520 ha.), wholly owned by the John Lewis Partnership. Description Formerly Longstock Manor, of med ...

Nursery and The Lavender Garden, where it is still known (2012) by its old taxon ''B. nappii''. Hardiness:

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

zones 7–9.Stuart, D. (2006). ''Buddlejas''. Plant Collector Guide. Timber Press, Oregon, USA. One notable cultivar of ''B. araucana'' is ''Buddleja'' 'Winter Sun'.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4984419

araucana The Araucana ( es, Gallina Mapuche, italic=no) is a breed of domestic chicken from Chile. Its name derives from the Araucanía region of Chile where it is believed to have originated. It lays blue-shelled eggs, one of very few breeds that do so. ...

Flora of Argentina Flora of Chile Flora of South America Dioecious plants