Buddleja grandiflora is endemic to the marshy fields and river margins of southern Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, and adjacent areas of Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 and Uruguay

Uruguay

Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

. The species was first described and named by Chamisso

Adelbert von Chamisso

Adelbert von Chamisso was a German poet and botanist.- Life :He was born Louis Charles Adélaïde de Chamissot at the château of Boncourt at Ante, in Champagne, France, the ancestral seat of his family...

 & von Schlechtendal

Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal

Diederich von Schlechtendal was a German botanist born in Xanten. He was Professor of Botany and Director of the Botanical Gardens at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg from 1833 until his death in 1866, and Editor of the botanical journal Linnaea.His most important work was in...

 in 1827.

Description

B. grandiflora is a shrub 1 – 2 m high, and unlike most South American members of the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

, is not 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...

. The young branches are subquadrangular, and covered with a white 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...

, bearing leaves subsessile

Sessility (botany)

In botany, sessility is a characteristic of plants whose flowers or leaves are borne directly from the stem or peduncle, and thus lack a petiole or pedicel...

 or with a petiole

Petiole (botany)

In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...

 < 1 cm, narrowly lanceolate

Leaf shape

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

, 5 - 10 cm long by 1 - 2.5 cm wide, membranaceous, 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...

 or glabrescent

Glabrousness

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

 above, and lanose below. The yellow 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...

 is 5 – 15 cm long, comprising two orders of branches. The sessile perfect flowers are borne in pairs of cymes, each with 1 - 6 flowers. The tubular corolla is 10 – 12 mm long. Unusually, the spongy seeds have buoyancy cells at their bases enabling them to float and withstand flooding.

The species is closely related to B. cestriflora

Buddleja cestriflora

Buddleja cestriflora is a rare species endemic only to a small area near the eastern coast of Brazil, where it grows in the cloud forest along roadsides and in wet rocky clearings on the eastern border of Serra Geral of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. The species was first described and named...

, B. stachyoides

Buddleja stachyoides

Buddleja stachyoides is the most widespread member of the genus in South America, endemic to woodland edges, roadsides and riversides in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The species was first described and named by Chamisso & von Schlechtendal in 1827.-Description:B...

, B. tubiflora

Buddleja tubiflora

Buddleja tubiflora is endemic to much of northern Argentina, southern Paraguay, and southern Brazil, where it grows at the edge of woodlands, thickets, and in old fields, at low elevations. The species was first named and described by George Bentham in 1846 -Description:B...

, and B. hatschbachii

Buddleja hatschbachii

Buddleja hatschbachii is a very rare species found only in the wet ravines and rock slopes flanking the east side of the planalto of southern Brazil. The species was first described and named by Norman & Smith in 1976.-Description:...

.