''Buddleja macrostachya'' is a large

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

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 with a vast distribution, from

Xizang The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of Ü ...

(Tibet) through western China, Bhutan, Sikkim, northern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma), to Thailand and Vietnam, growing in scrub on mountain slopes to an altitude of 3,200 m, and along rivers in forests.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
/ref> The species was named and described by Wallich ex Bentham in 1835.Stuart, D. (2006). ''Buddlejas''. RHS Plant Collector Guide. Timber Press, Oregon, USA. Leeuwenberg sank several species (see Synonyms) as ''macrostachya'' owing to the similarity of the individual flowers, whilst acknowledging that the structure of the

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 ...

s varied, from continuous (e.g. ''B. cylindrostachya'') to interrupted (e.g. ''B. hookeri''); he also considered ''macrostachya'' very closely allied to ''B. forrestii''.Leeuwenberg, A. J. M. (1979) ''The Loganiaceae of Africa XVIII Buddleja L. II, Revision of the African & Asiatic species''. pp. 133 – 136. H. Veenman & Zonen, Wageningen, Nederland.

Description

''Buddleja macrostachya'' grows 1 – 6 m in height, flowering from March to September in the wild. The branchlets are quadrangular, and winged,

stellate Stellate, meaning star-shaped, may refer to: * Stellate cell * Stellate ganglion * Stellate reticulum * Stellate veins * Stellate trichomes (hairs) on plants * Stellate laceration or incision Wound#Open * Stellate fan-shaped Espalier (one form ...

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 plant ...

when young. The leaves are

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 ...

or subsessile, narrowly to very narrowly

elliptic In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in ...

, and hugely variable in size, ranging from 4 – 45 cm long by 1–15 cm wide, mostly

, the margins crenate-serrate, and the apex

acuminate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

. The pendent terminal

s comprise dense cylindrical panicles 5 – 20 cm long by 2.5 – 4 cm wide, the corollas purple, mauve, lilac or pale pink, with orange to red throats. 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. Image:B. macrostachya winged stem.jpg, Winged Stem Image:B. macrostachya foliage.jpg, Leaf Image:B. macrostachya foliage 2.jpg, Foliage

Cultivation

''Buddleja macrostachya'' is not entirely frost hardy, and remains rare in cultivation. It is best planted against a south-facing wall in the UK, however two specimens are known to have grown with such vigour as to necessitate felling to prevent structural damage. Several small potted plants feature in 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 ...

collection of ''

Buddleja ''Buddleja'' (; ''Buddleia''; also historically given as ''Buddlea'') is a genus comprising over 140 species of flowering plants endemic to Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The generic name bestowed by Linnaeus posthumously honoured the Revere ...

'' held by the

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, near Stockbridge.Moore, P. (2011). ''List of Buddleja species held at Longstock Park Nursery, 2011.'' Longstock Park, UK. Hardiness: USDA zones 9 – 10.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4984677 macrostachya Flora of the Indian subcontinent Flora of Tibet Flora of Guizhou Flora of Sichuan Flora of Yunnan Flora of Indo-China Indomalayan realm flora