10 Buddleja loricata - Mountain Sagewood Seeds - Buy Indigenous Shrub Seeds in South Africa

Buddleja loricata Seeds

Mountain Sagewood

Buddleja, or Buddleia commonly known as the butterfly bush is a genus comprising over 100 species of flowering plants endemic to Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The generic name bestowed by Linnaeus posthumously honoured the Reverend Adam Buddle (16621715), a botanist and rector in Essex, England, at the suggestion of Dr. William Houstoun. Houstoun sent the first plants to become known to science as buddleja (B. americana) to England from the Caribbean about 15 years after Buddle's death. Buddleja loricata, commonly known as Mountain Sagewood or bergsaliehout, is an interesting Buddleja for small gardens or town houses, particularly those inland at higher altitudes. It has a tidy, rounded shape, attractive foliage and sweetly scented, creamy white flowers which attract many insects to the garden. Mountain sage grows up to 4 m and is either a multi-stemmed, densely bushy shrub or small tree. It has a pale brown bark and its branchlets are sometimes covered in rusty hairs. The wrinkly, narrow leaves are stalked, opposite and simple; medium to dark green above, much paler below and have rusty hairs, a raised midrib and side veins. It is sometimes confused with Buddleja salviifolia, but B. loricata leaves have a more rounded base and have no stipules, just a ridge between the leaves. They are also identified by their rusty hairs. The plant is also usually a shrub, smaller than B. salviifolia and the flowers are also different. The small flowers are in dense terminal spikes or cymes with hairy stalks and calyx. They are sweetly scented, creamy white or yellow, sometimes with orange centres and occur in summer from October to December. The fruit is a small capsule covered with fine, creamy grey hairs and form dense, woolly heads. The fruits split (January to March) along the flat surface when mature to release very fine, dust like seeds.