Buddleja bullata is a variable species endemic to the Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

, from Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

 south through Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 and Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

 to Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, at elevations of 1800 – 3600 m, where it grows on stream beds and in the remnants of montane forest. The species was first described and named by Kunth

Carl Sigismund Kunth

Carl Sigismund Kunth , also Karl Sigismund Kunth or anglicized as Charles Sigismund Kunth, was a German botanist...

 in 1818.

Description

B. bullata is a dioecious

Dioecious

Dioecy is the property of a group of biological organisms that have males and females, but not members that have organs of both sexes at the same time. I.e., those whose individual members can usually produce only one type of gamete; each individual organism is thus distinctly female or male...

 shrub or small tree 1 – 10 m high, with a greyish-tan bark. The branches are subquadrangular and tomentose

Tomentose

Tomentose is a term used to describe plant hairs that are flattened and matted, forming a woolly coating known as tomentum. Often the hairs are silver or gray-colored...

. The membraneous or subcoriaceous leaves are elliptic, lanceolate or ovate

Leaf shape

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

, 8 – 22 cm long by 3 – 8 cm wide, glabrescent

Glabrousness

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

, often bullate, above and covered with a white or yellowish tomentum

Tomentum

Tomentum may refer to the following:*In botany, a covering of closely matted or fine hairs on plant leaves. *A network of minute blood vessels in the brain.* Tomentum in zoology are a short, soft pubescence...

 below. The cream or yellow inflorescences are paniculate 7 – 25 cm long by 7 – 20 cm wide, comprising globose heads about 1 cm in diameter, each with 6 - 12 flowers; the corollas are 2.5 - 3.5 mm long.

Hybrids

The species is believed to hybridize with B. pichinchensis

Buddleja pichinchensis

Buddleja pichinchensis is endemic to the southern Cordillera Central of Colombia and the northern and central highlands of Ecuador, where it grows with Escallonia in páramo and subparamo regions at altitudes of between 3,300 and 4,200 m. The species was first named and described by Kunth in...

in the wild.