Buddleja globosa, also known as the Orange Ball Buddleja, is a species endemic to Chile and Argentina, where it grows in dry and moist forest, from sea level to 2,000 m.^[1] The species was first described and named by Hope in 1782 ^[2]

Description

B. globosa is a large shrub < 5 m tall, with grey fissured bark. The young branches are subquadrangular and tomentose, bearing sessile or subsessile lanceolate or elliptic leaves 5 - 15 cm long by 2 - 6 cm wide, glabrescent and bullate above and tomentose below. The deep-yellow to orange leafy-bracted inflorescences comprise one terminal and < 7 pairs of pedunculate globose heads, 1.2 - 2.8 cm in diameter, each with 30 - 50 flowers, heavily honey-scented.^[1]. Flowers are hermaphrodite with both male and female parts, unlike many Buddlejas of the Americas which are often dioecious.

Cultivation

B. globosa was first introduced to the UK from Chile in 1774, and is now commonly grown as an ornamental and landscape shrub in North America and Europe, proving fairly frost-hardy in the UK. Unlike B. davidii, introduced over a century later, B. globosa is not invasive owing to its wingless seeds.^[1]

Cultivars

There are four cultivars known to be in commerce, distinguished by the colour of the flowers:

Hybrids and hybrid cultivars

• Buddleja × weyeriana

B. globosa was hybridized with B. davidii var. magnifica by van de Weyer at Corfe Castle, England, during the First World War. Named × weyeriana, the hybrid remains unique as a cross between Asiatic and American species. There are popular cultivars of this cross, notably 'Sungold'.^[1]

Uses

Folk medicine attributes to B. globosa wound healing properties, and the infusion of the leaves is used topically for the treatment or wounds, burns and external and internal ulcers. Chemical studies of this species have allowed to isolate glycosidic flavonoids (Marín et al., 1979), phenylethanoids including verbascoside^[3], iridoids (Houghton y Hikino, 1989), triterpenoids (López et al., 1979), di and sesquiterpenoids (Houghton et al., 1996; Liao et al., 1999).

References

• Images of Buddleja globosa in Chileflora, seed provider
• Backhouse N, Rosales L, Apablaza C et al (March 2008). "Analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of Buddleja globosa, Buddlejaceae". J Ethnopharmacol 116 (2): 263–269. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2007.11.025. PMID 18164566. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0378-8741(07)00620-4. 
• Houghton PJ, Hikino H (April 1989). "Anti-hepatotoxic activity of extracts and constituents of Buddleja species". Planta Med. 55 (2): 123–126. doi:10.1055/s-2006-961903. PMID 2748726. http://www.thieme-connect.com/DOI/DOI?10.1055/s-2006-961903. 
• Houghton, P (1996). "Buddlejone, a diterpene from Buddleja albiflora". Phytochemistry 42 (2): 485–488. doi:10.1016/0031-9422(96)00001-5. 
• Liao YH, Houghton PJ, Hoult JR (September 1999). "Novel and known constituents from Buddleja species and their activity against leukocyte eicosanoid generation". J. Nat. Prod. 62 (9): 1241–1245. doi:10.1021/np990092. PMID 10514305. 
• Olmstead, RG; Depamphilis, CW; Wolfe, AD; Young, ND; Elisons, WJ; Reeves, PA (2001). "Disintegration of the Scrophulariaceae". Am J Bot 88 (2): 348–361. doi:10.2307/2657024. JSTOR 2657024. PMID 11222255. http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/reprint/88/2/348. 

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