''Buddleja grandiflora'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the marshy fields and river margins of southern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, and adjacent areas of

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

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

.Norman, E. M. (2000). Buddlejaceae. ''Flora Neotropica 81''. New York Botanical Garden, USA The species was first described and named by

Chamisso Adelbert von Chamisso (; 30 January 178121 August 1838) was a German poet and botanist, author of ''Peter Schlemihl'', a famous story about a man who sold his shadow. He was commonly known in French as Adelbert de Chamisso (or Chamissot) de Bonc ...

& von Schlechtendal in 1827.Cham. & Schldtl., (1827). ''Linnaea'' 2: 596, 1827.

Description

''Buddleja grandiflora'' is a shrub 1 – 2 m high, and unlike most South American members of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

, is hermaphroditic, not dioecious. The young branches are subquadrangular, and covered with a white

tomentum Tomentum may refer to: * Plant trichomes, a covering of closely matted or fine hairs on plant leaves. * Tomentum (anatomy), short, soft pubescence or a covering of fine, soft hairs. {{disambig ...

, bearing leaves subsessile or with a petiole < 1 cm, narrowly lanceolate, 5 – 10 cm long by 1 – 2.5 cm wide, membranaceous,

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 ...

glabrescent Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

above, and lanose below. The yellow

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

is 5 – 15 cm long, comprising two orders of branches. The sessile perfect flowers are borne in pairs of cymes, each with 1 – 6 flowers. The tubular corolla is 10 – 12 mm long. Unusually, the spongy seeds have buoyancy cells at their bases enabling them to float and withstand flooding. The species is closely related to ''B. cestriflora'', ''B. stachyoides'', ''B. tubiflora'', and ''B. hatschbachii''.

Cultivation

The shrub is not known to be in cultivation.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4984651 grandiflora Flora of Argentina Flora of Brazil Flora of Uruguay Taxa named by Adelbert von Chamisso