''Buddleja acuminata'' is a rare shrub

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to the northern half of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

and eastern

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

, where it grows along forest edges and in clearings at elevations of 50–800 m. The species was first named and described by

Poiret Poiret is a French language surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Jean Poiret, French author * Jean Louis Georges Poiret, former Lieutenant-Governor of Guinea *Jean Louis Marie Poiret, French clergyman, botanist, and explorer * Jeanne ...

in 1810.Poiret, J. L. M. (1810). ''Encyc. Suppl.'' 1 (2): 745. 1810.

Description

''Buddleja acuminata'' is a sarmentose, often lianescent, shrub 1.5–3 m in height, with

stellate Stellate, meaning star-shaped, may refer to: * Stellate cell * Stellate ganglion * Stellate reticulum * Stellate veins * Stellate trichomes (hairs) on plants * Stellate laceration or incision Wound#Open * Stellate fan-shaped Espalier (one form ...

tomentose Trichomes (); ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a plan ...

branchlets. The opposite dark - green leaves have petioles 0.7–2 cm long, the blades variable in shape, from

triangular A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non-collinear, ...

to narrowly ovate, 5–11 cm long by 1.5–6.5 cm wide, long-acuminate at the apex, subcordate to cuneate at the base, all but

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part o ...

above, stellate - tomentose below; the margins range from coarsely

dentate Dentate may refer to: * A species having dentition * An energy-dissipating baffle block in a spillway * An individual not being edentulous * Dentate gyrus of the hippocampus * Dentate nucleus of the cerebellum * Denticity in chemistry * Dentate l ...

at the base, to

entire Entire may refer to: * Entire function, a function that is holomorphic on the whole complex plane * Entire (animal) Neutering, from the Latin ''neuter'' ('of neither sex'), is the removal of an animal's reproductive organ, either all of it or a ...

and covered by a thick felt-like

indumentum In biology, an indumentum (Latin, literally: "garment") is a covering of trichomes (fine "hairs") on a plantDavis, Peter Hadland and Heywood, Vernon Hilton (1963) ''Principles of angiosperm taxonomy'' Van Nostrandpage, Princeton, New Jersey, page ...

. The

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. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...

s are white

panicles A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are ...

, initially small and congested < 2 cm in diameter at

anthesis Anthesis is the period during which a flower is fully open and functional. It may also refer to the onset of that period. The onset of anthesis is spectacular in some species. In ''Banksia'' species, for example, anthesis involves the extension ...

, enlarging to 15 cm long by 6 cm, the corollas 9–13 mm long.Leeuwenberg, A. J. M. (1979). ''The Loganiceae of Africa XVIII - Buddleja LII, Revision of the African & Asiatic species. ''Mededelingen Landbouwhogeschool Wageningen, Nederland. 79 - 6 (1979).

Cultivation

''Buddleja acuminata'' is not known to be in cultivation.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4984411 acuminata Flora of Madagascar Flora of the Democratic Republic of the Congo