Buddleja davidii (spelling variant Buddleia davidii), also called summer lilac, butterfly-bush, or orange eye, is a species of flowering plant in the family Scrophulariaceae, native to Sichuan and Hubei provinces in central China, and also Japan.[1] It is widely used as an ornamental plant, and many named varieties are in cultivation. The genus was named Buddleja after Reverend Adam Buddle, an English botanist. The species name davidii honors the French missionary and explorer in China, Father Armand David, who was the first European to report the shrub.[2] It was found near Ichang by Dr Augustine Henry about 1887 and sent to St Petersburg. Another botanist-missionary in China, Jean-André Soulié, sent seed to the French nursery Vilmorin, and B. davidii entered commerce in the 1890s.[3]
Invasive species
Buddleja davidii has been designated as an invasive species or a "noxious weed" in a number of countries in temperate regions, including the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand.[14] It is naturalized in Australia[15] and in many cities of central and southern Europe, where it can spread on open lands and in gardens.
B. davidii was first documented as an invasive species in the United Kingdom during 1922. It is now often seen there along railway lines and on the sites of derelict factories and other buildings.[16] The plant frequently grew on urban bomb sites during the aftermath of World War II, earning it the nickname of "the bomb site plant".[17]
B. davidii is widely marketed throughout the United States, where it has reportedly become invasive in some, but not all, areas within which it has been planted.[18][19][20] Although its flowers feed many native butterflies and other pollinators, plantings of the species are now controversial.[19][21][22] To prevent seeding and to promote further flowering, its blossoms need to be removed ("deadheaded") as soon as they are spent.[18]
A number of Buddleja cultivars have become available that have a variety of sizes and blossom colors and that are either sterile or produce less than 2% viable seed.[18][21][23][24] The northwestern U.S. state of Oregon, which designated B. davidii as a "noxious weed" and initially prohibited entry, transport, purchase, sale or propagation of all of its varieties, amended its quarantine in 2009 to permit those cultivars when approved or when proven to be interspecific hybrids.[18][21][23][25] The adjacent state of Washington has taken actions that are similar to those of Oregon to bring parity to nursery sales between the two states.[26] Monarch Watch recommends planting only male-sterile "Flutterby" cultivars.[27]
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Butterfly Bush" which is released under the https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Trade butterfly bush seeds online from members of Redhouse Greenhouse.