Buddleja bhutanica is a species endemic to Bhutan

Bhutan

Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...

, where it grows in bush on mountain slopes at elevations around 1,700 m. The shrub was first described and named by Yamazaki in 1971.

Description

B. bhutanica is a deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

 shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 1.5 - 2 m in height, very similar to B. asiatica

Buddleja asiatica

Buddleja asiatica is a tender deciduous shrub native to a vast area of the East Indies, and first described by Loureiro in 1790. The shrub can be found in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, China, Taiwan, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, New Guinea, and the Philippines, growing in open...

 but distinguished by its perfoliate leaves. The branchlets are terete and glabrous

Glabrousness

Glabrousness is the technical term for an anatomically atypical lack of hair, down, or similar structures...

, bearing opposite leaves, connate-perfoliate

Leaf shape

In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

 and narrowly oblong

Leaf shape

In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

, 6 - 16 cm long by 3 - 8 cm wide, glabrous

Glabrousness

Glabrousness is the technical term for an anatomically atypical lack of hair, down, or similar structures...

 above and below, the margins serrate

Leaf shape

In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

 or entire

Leaf shape

In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

. The white, very fragrant inflorescence

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

s comprise terminal panicle

Panicle

A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....

s, 8 - 17 cm long by 3 - 8 cm wide, the corollas 4.5 - 5.5 mm long.

Cultivation

B. bhutanica is not hardy in the UK; attempts at introduction, at the Chelsea Physic Garden

Chelsea Physic Garden

The Chelsea Physic Garden was established as the Apothecaries’ Garden in London, England in 1673. It is the second oldest botanical garden in Britain, after the University of Oxford Botanic Garden, which was founded in 1621.Its rock garden is the oldest English garden devoted to alpine plants...

 and the Teignmouth Orangery, both failed.