Buddleja scordioides facts for kids

The Buddleja scordioides is a special plant that grows only in certain parts of North America. You can find it in central Arizona, southeastern New Mexico, southwestern Texas, and the Chihuahua Desert in Mexico. It likes to grow in dry, desert areas with thorny bushes and salty soil, usually at high places between 600 and 2,500 meters (about 2,000 to 8,200 feet) above sea level. A scientist named Carl Sigismund Kunth first described this plant in 1818.

What Does It Look Like?

Buddleja scordioides is a type of shrub, which is a woody plant smaller than a tree. It usually grows to be about 0.3 to 1.2 meters (1 to 4 feet) tall. Its bark peels off in strips.

This plant is interesting because it is dioecious. This means that individual plants have either male flowers or female flowers, but not both on the same plant. So, you need both a male and a female plant nearby for them to make seeds.

The young branches of the plant are a bit square-shaped and covered in soft, fuzzy hairs, like velvet. Its leaves are small, about 1 to 3 centimeters (0.4 to 1.2 inches) long and 0.3 to 0.8 centimeters (0.1 to 0.3 inches) wide. They are grayish-green, thin, and have a wrinkled surface on top. Both sides of the leaves are also covered in soft, fuzzy hairs.

When the plant blooms, it has lemon-yellow flowers that smell like sage. These flowers grow in groups called inflorescences, which are like flower clusters. These clusters are 2 to 10 centimeters (0.8 to 4 inches) long and have 3 to 15 pairs of flower bunches. Each bunch has about 15 to 20 small flowers. The petals of each flower are tiny, only about 1.5 to 2 millimeters long.

Growing This Plant

Currently, Buddleja scordioides is not commonly grown in gardens or by people. It mostly grows wild in its natural desert home.

See also

In Spanish: Buddleja scordioides para niños