Buddleja polycephala is endemic to southern 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...

 and areas around Ayabaca

Ayabaca

Ayabaca is a town located in the highlands of the Piura Region in northwestern Peru. It is located in the Ayabaca Province and is capital of that province. The town is located at 2,815 meters above sea level and has good weather...

 and Piura

Piura

Piura is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. The population is 377,496.It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro founded the third Spanish city in South America and first in Peru, San Miguel de Piura, in July 1532...

, and Cajamarca

Cajamarca

Cajamarca may refer to:Colombia*Cajamarca, Tolima a town and municipality in Tolima DepartmentPeru* Cajamarca, city in Peru.* Cajamarca District, district in the Cajamarca province.* Cajamarca Province, province in the Cajamarca region....

 in 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 2,000 - 2,700 m. The species was first named and described 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. polycephala 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...

 sprawling shrub 1 - 5 m tall. The young branches are quadrangular and tomentose

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 ovate or ovate-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...

 membranaceous leaves 9 - 25 cm long by 4 - 10 cm wide, initially thickly tomentose but later glabrescent

Glabrousness

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

 above, but remaining tomentose below. The yellowish white inflorescences are 15 - 40 cm long, and as wide at the base, with leafy-bracted

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...

 primary and secondary branches perpendicular

Perpendicular

In geometry, two lines or planes are considered perpendicular to each other if they form congruent adjacent angles . The term may be used as a noun or adjective...

 to each other. The flowers are borne as compact heads, approximately 1 cm in diameter, each with around 20 flowers, the corollas 3 mm long.

Varieties

Norman identifies two varieties, both distinguished by minor differences in the leaves:

• Buddleja polycephala Kunth var. polycephala
• Buddleja polycephala Kunth var. peruviana (J. F. Macbr.) E. M. Norman