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Service Notice

The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system, WAHerb, and DBCA’s flora taxonomic names application, WACensus, have been set to read-only mode since 1 October 2025. Recent taxonomic changes are not currently being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or the census. Due to the rapidly approaching holiday season and associated agency and facility soft closures, along with the substantial work involved in data mapping, cleaning, and verification, the migration to the new collection management software is not expected to occur before 1 March 2026, when a further update will be provided. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

The notice period started at 9:45 am on Friday, 12 December 2025 +08:00 and will end at 12:00 pm on Monday, 2 March 2026 +08:00.

Buddleja L.

Reference
Sp.Pl. [Linnaeus] 1:112 (1753)
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Family Buddlejaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Shrubs. Young stems cylindrical, or tetragonal. Leaves opposite; petiolate; simple. Leaf blades entire; pinnately veined; cross-venulate. Leaves with stipules (leaf-like), or without stipules (the stipules reduced, then represented by a ‘stipular line’ linking the opposing leaf bases). Stipules interpetiolar. Leaf blade margins entire, or serrate, or dentate. Leaf anatomy. Hairs present; glandular hairs present, or absent; complex hairs present. Complex hairs stellate. Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’. Inflorescence many-flowered. Flowers in panicles. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences panicle often long, sometimes with additional panicles in subterminal leaf axils. Flowers bracteate. Bracts linear. Flowers bracteolate; fragrant; regular; 4 merous; cyclic; tetracyclic. Hypogynous disk small or absent. Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 8; 2 -whorled; isomerous. Calyx 4; 1 -whorled; gamosepalous; 4 lobed; hairy (densely hairy outside); imbricate; regular. Corolla 4; 1 -whorled; gamopetalous; 4 lobed; imbricate; with straight or curved tube, often rather slender; regular; yellow to orange (in B. madagascariensis). Androecium 4. Androecial members adnate (epipetalous); free of one another; 1 -whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 4; isomerous with the perianth; oppositisepalous; all alternating with the corolla members; filantherous, or with sessile anthers (subsessile). Anthers dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse; tetrasporangiate. Gynoecium 2 carpelled. The pistil 2 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; eu-syncarpous; superior. Ovary plurilocular; 2 locular. Gynoecium median. Styles 1; attenuate from the ovary; apical. Stigmas 1; 1 - lobed; clavate (or conic). Placentation axile. Ovules 20–50 per locule (or more); pendulous, or ascending; hemianatropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit fleshy, or non-fleshy; dehiscent, or indehiscent; a capsule (2-valved), or a berry. Capsules loculicidal. Fruit numerous-seeded. Seeds endospermic; winged, or wingless. Cotyledons 2. Embryo straight.

Geography, cytology, number of species. Native of Australia. Not endemic to Australia. Australian states and territories: Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. South-West Botanical Province.