''Buddleja tubiflora'' 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 elsew ...

to much of northern

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 ...

, southern

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, and 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 ...

, where it grows at the edge of woodlands, thickets, and in old fields, at low elevations. The species was first named and described by

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studi ...

in 1846.Bentham, G. (1846). ''D C., Prodromus'' 10: 443, 1846.Norman, E. M. (2000). Buddlejaceae. ''Flora Neotropica 81''. New York Botanical Garden, USA

Description

''Buddleja tubiflora'' grows to < 2 m in height, with the typically lax habit creating a spread of < 3 m. The shrub is chiefly distinguished by its striking orange flowers, the corollas 25 mm long by 6 mm wide at the throat, borne in axillary clusters towards the ends of the branches. The branchlets, like the corolla tubes, are covered in a dense reddish

indumentum In biology, an indumentum (Latin, literally: "garment") is a covering of trichomes (fine "hairs") on a plant Davis, Peter Hadland and Heywood, Vernon Hilton (1963) ''Principles of angiosperm taxonomy'' Van Nostrandpage, Princeton, New Jersey, pa ...

. The leaves are mostly

subsessile In botany, sessility (meaning "sitting", used in the sense of "resting on the surface") is a characteristic of plant parts (such as flowers and leaves) that have no stalk. Plant parts can also be described as subsessile, that is, not completely ...

, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 8 – 18 cm long by 2 – 6 cm wide, membranaceous, tomentulose above,

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 ...

below. Pollination is by

hummingbirds 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 arou ...

which feed on the sweet nectar at the base of the corolla.

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.

Cultivation

''Buddleja tubiflora'' is cultivated in the UK, most if not all specimens derived from a long-lost example grown at the Hanbury Gardens at Mortola,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. A specimen is grown under glass 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 collection 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, near Stockbridge. The shrub can be grown on a south-facing wall in coastal areas of the UK, with added protection against frost, although waterlogging overwinter is considered a greater danger to the plant.Stuart, D. (2006). ''Buddlejas''. RHS Plant Collector Guide. Timber Press, Oregon. 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 9–10.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4984733 tubiflora Flora of Argentina Flora of Brazil Flora of Paraguay Flora of South America