Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Buddleja madagascariensis

Buddleja

smoke bush

butterfly-bush
Habit Shrubs, climbing, sarmentose, 20–50 dm. Shrubs or trees; stolons absent.
Stems

branched, tomentose.

erect or pendent, hairy when young, hairs usually stellate and glandular.
Leaves

often with globular stipular lines;

petiole 5–15 mm;

blade ovate to elliptic, 8–15 × 2–5 cm, base rounded, margins entire, apex acuminate, abaxial surface tomentose, adaxial glabrous or glabrate.

persistent, semipersistent, or deciduous, cauline, opposite, decussate;

stipules present (B. davidii) or as stipular lines or absent;

petiole present or absent;

blade not fleshy, subleathery or not, margins crenate, dentate, undulate, serrate, sinuate-dentate, subentire, or entire, sometimes involute.
Inflorescences

terminal, tapering-spicate thyrses, 5–25 × 3–5 cm, cymes 10–25 pairs, 5–15-flowered.

terminal, rarely axillary, cymes in heads, pseudoverticellate spikes, or panicles;

bracts present.
Pedicels

essentially absent;

bracteoles present.

often absent;

bracteoles present or absent.
Flowers

slightly fragrant;

calyx tomentose externally, tube 2–3 mm, lobes 0.5–1 mm;

corolla yellowish orange, salverform, tube 7–9 mm, lobes suborbiculate, 2.5–3.5 × 2–3 mm;

stamens inserted proximal to throat of corolla tube, included in tube;

ovary subglobular, 1–1.5 mm, tomentose at tip;

stigma clavate, 1–1.5 mm.

bisexual, sometimes functionally dioecious, rarely trioecious;

sepals 4, calyx radially symmetric, campanulate, lobes ovate to lanceolate;

petals 4, corolla yellow, yellowish orange, greenish yellow, purple, pink, or white, sometimes with yellow-orange eye or white throat, radially symmetric, campanulate-rotate, salverform, funnelform, or tubular;

stamens 4, adnate to corolla tube, included, rarely exserted, equal, filaments glabrous, staminode 0;

ovary 2- or 4-locular, placentation axile;

stigma capitate, clavate, or clavate and slightly 2-lobed.
Fruits

berries, bluish purple, globular, 2.5–5 × 2.5–5 mm, papillose, indehiscent.

berries or capsules, ovoid or globular to cylindric, oblong, ellipsoid, or subglobular, dehiscence septicidal and/or loculicidal, rarely indehiscent.
Seeds

ovoid, 0.6–0.9 × 0.5–0.6 mm, wings absent.

20–100+, yellow to brown, tetrahedral, fusiform, or threadlike (B. davidii), usually obcompressed, wings present or absent.
x

= 19.
2n

= 38.

Buddleja madagascariensis

Buddleja
Phenology Flowering Mar–May; fruiting not known in continental United States.
Habitat Roadsides.
Elevation 10–20 m. (0–100 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; Indian Ocean Islands (Madagascar) [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, West Indies (Cuba, Puerto Rico), South America (Argentina, Uruguay), Europe (Greece), Africa (Republic of South Africa), Indian Ocean Islands (Mauritius, Réunion), Pacific Islands (Fiji, Hawaii, New Caledonia, New Zealand), Australia]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
North America; Mexico; Central America; South America; Asia; e Africa; Indian Ocean Islands (Comoro, Madagascar, Mascarene Islands) [Introduced in Europe, elsewhere in Africa, Pacific Islands (Hawaii, New Zealand), Australia]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Buddleja madagascariensis is considered a serious invader in Hawaii at 900–1200 m, where it sets abundant fruits (Hawaii Invasive Species Council, https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/hisc/info/species/smoke-bush/); this contrasts with the report by A. J. M. Leeuwenberg (1979) that he had observed specimens with fruits only from Crete, Madagascar, and Mauritius.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species ca. 100 (10 in the flora).

Buddleja species, especially Asiatic ones, are cultivated widely for their attractive flowers and leaves and their pleasant floral scent. Some plants readily persist and spread after cultivation; one of these, B. davidii, is considered an invasive of concern in some parts of the world (N. G. Tallent-Halsell and M. S. Watt 2009). Some species are used as remedies in folk medicine (E. M. Norman 2000). Almost all buddlejas thrive in sunny disturbed habitats.

The Buddleja species of Madagascar and nearby islands have berries rather than capsules and have been segregated by some authors into Nicodemia; African taxa that have flowers with open corollas with well-exserted stamens rather than tubular flowers with included, sessile or subsessile stamens have been referred to Chilianthus. Here both are treated in Buddleja.

J. F. Chau et al. (2017) conducted a phylogenetic study of Buddlejeae with the five genera of the tribe all treated within seven sections of Buddleja. This treatment is consistent with that study except for recognition of Emorya.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Inflorescences broadly paniculate; corollas white; stamens exserted from corolla tube.
B. saligna
1. Inflorescences narrowly paniculate, spicate, racemose, or capitate; corollas yellow, yellowish orange, greenish yellow, orange, purple, violet, or pink, rarely white, sometimes with yellow-orange eye or white throat; stamens included in corolla tube.
→ 2
2. Corollas tubular or salverform, tubes 7–14 mm.
→ 3
3. Leaf blades orbiculate to elliptic; corollas greenish yellow.
B. indica
3. Leaf blades ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or elliptic; corollas yellowish orange, purple, violet, pink, or white, sometimes with yellow-orange eye or white throat.
→ 4
4. Corollas yellowish orange; stamens inserted near throat.
B. madagascariensis
4. Corollas purple, violet, pink, or white, sometimes with yellow-orange eye or white throat; stamens inserted medially or 3–5 from base.
→ 5
5. Cymes almost encircling inflorescence axis; corollas straight.
B. davidii
5. Cymes secund; corollas curved.
B. lindleyana
2. Corollas funnelform, salverform, or campanulate-rotate, tubes 1.5–5 mm.
→ 6
6. Leaf blade adaxial surfaces glabrous or glabrescent.
→ 7
7. Shrubs, 3–15 dm; cymes 6–12-flowered; corolla lobes orbiculate.
B. racemosa
7. Shrubs or trees, 15–40 dm; cymes 10–35-flowered; corolla lobes ovate.
B. sessiliflora
6. Leaf blade surfaces glandular-tomentose (grayish).
→ 8
8. Inflorescences capitate; corollas deep yellow (turning orange).
B. marrubiifolia
8. Inflorescences pseudoverticillate spikes; corollas light yellow, lemon yellow, or greenish yellow.
→ 9
9. Corolla tubes 1.5–2 mm, lobes oblong.
B. scordioides
9. Corolla tubes 4–5 mm, lobes orbiculate.
B. utahensis
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 329. FNA vol. 17, p. 327. Author: Eliane Meyer Norman.
Parent taxa Scrophulariaceae > Buddleja Scrophulariaceae
Sibling taxa
B. davidii, B. indica, B. lindleyana, B. marrubiifolia, B. racemosa, B. saligna, B. scordioides, B. sessiliflora, B. utahensis
Subordinate taxa
B. davidii, B. indica, B. lindleyana, B. madagascariensis, B. marrubiifolia, B. racemosa, B. saligna, B. scordioides, B. sessiliflora, B. utahensis
Synonyms Nicodemia madagascariensis Chilianthus, Nicodemia
Name authority Lamarck: in J. Lamarck et al., Encycl. 1: 513. (1785) — (as Budleia) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 112. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 51. (1754)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers