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''Buddleja delavayi'' is a Chinese species discovered by Forrest in the Tali Range above
Dali Dali or Dalí may refer to: Chinese history * Kingdom of Dali (937–1253 AD), centered in modern Yunnan * Kingdom of Nanzhao or Dali, Kingdom of Dali's predecessor state * Dali, Emperor Daizong of Tang's third and last regnal period (766–779) ...
(2000 – 2500 m elevation), Yunnan, in 1910; Cotton, A. D. (1947). Spring flowering buddleias. ''RHS Journal'' Vol. 72. 1947. 427–437. Royal Horticultural Society, London. it is also found in Xizang (Tibet).Stuart, D. (2006). ''Buddlejas''. Timber Press, Oregon, USA. The species was named for l'Abbé Delavay, the French missionary and plant collector, by Gagnepain in 1912. The shrub is of interest to the botanist because of its unique (within the genus) resting buds and the different types of inflorescence produced through the year.


Description

''Buddleja delavayi'' is a deciduous
shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
or small tree growing 2 – 6 m high by up to 3  m wide. The young branches and shoots are rounded, bearing elliptic leaves 1.5 – 6  cm long, usually with short < 4  mm petioles, the margins either serrate or entire. The heavily honey-scented flowers, which appear in April and occasionally again in September, are rose-lilac with an orange eye, borne in lax, terminal and axillary
panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...
s. The inflorescences produced in spring are small, 4 – 12 cm long, whereas those produced in autumn are more than twice the length, at 20 – 25  cm. The individual flowers are relatively large, the corollas 8  mm wide by 10  mm long, and a deep salmon - rose in colour. The buds of the spring flowers are formed in autumn, and protected from frost by small dry brown scales resembling those of the
Cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...
, and are unique within the genus.
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 ...
2''n'' = 114.Chen, G, Sun, W-B, & Sun, H. (2007). Ploidy variation in Buddleja L. (Buddlejaceae) in the Sino - Himalayan region and its biogeographical implications. ''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.'' 2007, 154, 305 – 312. The Linnean Society of London.


Cultivation

Introduced to the UK at about the time of the First World War, ''B. delavayi'' was raised at Caerhays Castle by J. C. Williams, and later at Kew. The shrub is included in the NCCPG National Collection held by the Longstock Park Nursery, near Stockbridge, Hampshire. Hardiness: USDA zones 8 – 9.


References


Literature

*Bean, W. J. (1970). ''Trees & Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles, 8th ed., Vol. 1.''. (2nd impression 1976) London *Hillier & Sons (1990). ''Hillier's Manual of Trees & Shrubs, 5th ed.''. David & Charles, Newton Abbot. *Krüssmann, G. (1984). ''Manual of Cultivated Broad-leaved Trees & Shrubs, Vol. 1''. Engl. transl. London, 1984. *Leeuwenberg, A. J. M. (1979) ''The Loganiaceae of Africa XVIII Buddleja L. II, Revision of the African & Asiatic species''. H. Veenman & Zonen, Wageningen, Nederland. *Li, P. T. & Leeuwenberg, A. J. M. (1996). Loganiaceae, in Wu, Z. & Raven, P. (eds) ''Flora of China'', Vol. 15. Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, USA.
online at www.efloras.org
*Phillips, R. & Rix, M. (1989). ''Shrubs'', Pan Books, London. {{Taxonbar, from=Q4984627 delavayi Flora of China