Buddleja tucamensis is endemic to the La Paz Department of Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

 and to the Catamarca Province

Catamarca Province

Catamarca is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province has a population of 334,568 as per the , and covers an area of 102,602 km². Its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are : Salta, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Córdoba, and La Rioja...

 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...

, growing on rocky hillsides, along streams and roads from sea level to 3,300 m. The species was first named and described by Grisebach

August Grisebach

August Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach was a German botanist and phytogeographer. Born in Hannover on April 17, 1814, he died at Göttingen on May 9, 1879.- Biography :...

 in 1874

Description

B. tucamensis 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 0.5 - 5 m in height, with grey fissured bark. The young branches are terete and covered with 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...

. The lower leaves have 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...

s < 2 cm long, and blades oblong to 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 - 15 cm long by 2.5 - 5.5 cm wide, subcoriaceous, glabrescent

Glabrousness

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

 above, 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 lanose below, the margin serrate. The upper leaves have shorter petioles, and the blades lanceolate to elliptic

Leaf shape

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

 3 - 11 cm long by 1 - 4 cm wide, the margin entire. The yellowish-orange leafy

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...

 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 hemispheric

Hemisphere

Hemisphere may refer to:*Half of a sphereAs half of the Earth:*Any half of the Earth, see Hemispheres of the Earth, see:...

 heads in the axils of the terminal leaves, 5 - 20 heads per branch, each head 1 - 1.5 cm in diameter with between 5 and 20 flowers; the corollas 3.5 - 5 mm long.