''Buddleja pichinchensis'' is endemic to the southern

Cordillera Central Central Cordillera refers to the New Guinea Highlands. Cordillera Central, meaning ''central range'' in Spanish, may refer to the following mountain ranges: * Cordillera Central, Andes (disambiguation), several mountain ranges in South America ** ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and the northern and central highlands of Ecuador, where it grows with ''

Escallonia ''Escallonia'' is a genus of shrubs and trees in the family Escalloniaceae. They are native to North and South America. Taxonomy Currently valid species in ''Escallonia'' are: * '' Escallonia alpina'' * '' Escallonia angustifolia'' * '' Escal ...

'' in

páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

and subparamo regions at altitudes of 3,300 – 4,200 m. The species was first named and described by Kunth in 1818.Kunth, in Humboldt, Bonpland, and Kunth. (1818). ''Nov. gen. sp., ed. fol.'' 2:284, ed. quar. 2:347Norman, E. M. (2000). Buddlejaceae. ''Flora Neotropica 81'', pp. 135 - 141. New York Botanical Garden, USA

Description

''Buddleja pichinchensis'' is a

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

shrub or small tree 3 – 6 m tall in the wild, with a blackish fissured bark, becoming increasingly gnarled with age. The young branches are terete and covered with a thick tomentum, bearing sessile or subsessile lanceolate coriaceous or subcoriaceous leaves,

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, with dense felt-like tomentum below. The faintly scented golden yellow inflorescences are 3 – 12 cm long, with 1 – 2 orders of branches, usually with 3 – 6 pairs of pendent pedunculate heads 1.2 – 2 cm in diameter, each head with 12 – 18 flowers, the

corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name * Corolla (headgear), an ancient headdress in the form of a circlet or crown * ''Corolla'' (gastropod), a genus of moll ...

s 3 – 5 mm long. Pollination is possibly by

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

Cultivation

The species was briefly in commerce in the UK (Fillpots Nursery, Colchester) circa 2003, and some specimens may survive there.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4984699 pichinchensis Flora of Colombia Flora of Ecuador Flora of South America Páramo flora Dioecious plants