6473.000 Buddleja L.

Shrubs, usually with a white or pale grey indumentum of stellate hairs. Stipules leafy, a line or 0. Leaves opposite or subopposite, rarely alternate, often discolorous, green above and whitish beneath; lamina entire, crenate or dentate or sometimes lobed. Inflorescence terminal and/or axillary, thyrsoid, paniculate or variously reduced, even to a spherical head. Flowers 4-merous, actinomorphic. Fruit a capsule. Seeds winged in some species.

Derivation of name: After Adam Buddle (d. 1715), English botanist.

Comment: Formerly placed in the family Loganiaceae and in its own family Buddlejaceae this genus is now considered part of the narrowly defined Scrophulariaceae.

Worldwide: c. 100 species in warm regions, especially E Asia

Zimbabwe: 6 cultivated taxa.