Species
+

Buddleja davidii Franch.

Buddleia, Butterfly Bush, Butterfly-Bush, Butterfly-bush (EN)

Climate known 81 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Buddleja davidii, also called butterfly-bush, orange eye, or summer lilac, is a species of flowering plant in the family Scrophulariaceae, native to most of China except for the far northeast. It is widely used as an ornamental plant, and many named cultivars are in cultivation. The genus was named Buddleja after the English botanist, Reverend Adam Buddle. The species name, davidii, is after the French missionary and explorer in China, Father Armand David, who was the first European to report the shrub. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Buddleja davidii”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Buddleja

Buddleja is a genus comprising over 140 species of flowering plants endemic to Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The generic name bestowed by Linnaeus posthumously honoured Adam Buddle (1662–1715), an English botanist and rector, at the suggestion of William Houstoun. Houstoun sent the first plants to become known to science as buddleja to England from the Caribbean about 15 years after Buddle's death. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Buddleja”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Scrophulariaceae
Described by
Franch.
Native to
China South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast +1
Wild records
3 in range· 0 open

At a glance

Warmest month
23°C
May, mean day; nights 14 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1127mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Jul 246 mm (CHELSA)
Light
17–31DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1127 mm a year, wettest July at 246 mm, driest December at 15 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 31 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -3.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Buddleja davidii var. alba Rehder & E.H.Wilson; Buddleja davidii var. glabrescens Gagnep.; Buddleja davidii var. magnifera (E.H.Wilson) Rehder & E.H.Wilson; Buddleja davidii var. magnifica (E.H.Wilson) Rehder & E.H.Wilson; Buddleja davidii var. nanhoensis (Chitt.) Rehder and 20 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (875 mm of 1127 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 19.9 °C against a yearly mean of 15.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1127 mm a year, wettest July at 246 mm, driest December at 15 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1127 mm a year at the habitat, 875 mm of it May to September. Wettest month July at 246 mm, driest December at 15 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 985 mm to 2206 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 31 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 31 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 12, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -3.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -3.9 °C, the absolute minimum -8.1 °C, about 28 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 27.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 2.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells 1.9 °C to 3.6 °C), warmest day 23.4 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -3.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 11 °C in Jan to 23 °C in May; mean night from 3 °C in Jan to 16 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1127 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 3 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -8.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 27.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°frost27.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)-8.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 17–31RH 57–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 3 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C11 / 9–1313 / 11–1616 / 15–2021 / 19–2323 / 20–2523 / 21–2623 / 21–2723 / 21–2721 / 20–2419 / 17–1915 / 14–1511 / 10–13
Night °C3 / 2–44 / 4–57 / 7–812 / 11–1214 / 13–1616 / 15–1916 / 15–2016 / 14–2014 / 13–1711 / 11–137 / 7–83 / 3–4
Rain mm17 / 16–3819 / 17–4831 / 23–8055 / 33–16293 / 93–267173 / 143–350246 / 212–450230 / 188–400133 / 117–19878 / 53–12737 / 24–7515 / 12–30
DLI17 / 13–2322 / 16–2928 / 21–3531 / 27–3829 / 28–3528 / 23–3128 / 23–3027 / 25–3126 / 20–2722 / 15–2220 / 14–2118 / 12–21
RH %62 / 58–6961 / 55–6759 / 53–6557 / 53–6758 / 56–7066 / 60–7568 / 64–7567 / 65–7367 / 64–7067 / 63–7263 / 61–6862 / 61–67

Each figure is the median across the 3 grid cells holding the 3 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1352:5675 (22.375, 103.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -8.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -3.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 27.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 3 distinct grid cells holding the 3 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1352:5675 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 22.50_103.750, lapse-corrected +1021 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1957 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP.
No openly licensed record to show inside the range.
NativeChina South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast, Tibet· introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Corse, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Cameroon, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ascension, Uzbekistan, Transcaucasus, Japan, East Himalaya, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaya, Tasmania, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, British Columbia, Ontario, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Missouri, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., West Virginia, California, New Mexico, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, District of Columbia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Argentina South
Kew's description“shrub” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 3 georeferenced records inside the native range; none carries a licence permitting republication, so the map shows no points. 616 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. Under a dozen records: treat the map and the climate as indicative.

Photographs

Buddleja davidiiBuddleja davidiiBuddleja davidiiBuddleja davidiiBuddleja davidiiBuddleja davidiiBuddleja davidiiBuddleja davidii

Photographs: (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Nicolás Lavandero, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Buddleja davidii, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Sambucus nigraL.
M. D. Atkinson, Elaine Atkinson (2002) · Journal of Ecology
General hypotheses in invasion ecology
Jonathan M. Jeschke (2014) · Diversity and Distributions
Butterfly nectaring flowers: butterfly morphology and flower form
Sarah A. Corbet (2000) · Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata
Chemical Transformations of Buddleja davidii Lignin during Ethanol Organosolv Pretreatment
Bassem B. Hallac, Yunqiao Pu, Arthur J. Ragauskas (2010) · Energy & Fuels
Biomass Characterization of Buddleja davidii: A Potential Feedstock for Biofuel Production
Bassem B. Hallac, Poulomi Sannigrahi, Yunqiao Pu, Michael J. Ray (2009) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Effect of Ethanol Organosolv Pretreatment on Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Buddleja davidii Stem Biomass
Bassem B. Hallac, Poulomi Sannigrahi, Yunqiao Pu, Michael J. Ray (2010) · Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Efficient production of saffron crocins and picrocrocin in Nicotiana benthamiana using a virus-driven system
Maricarmen Martí, Gianfranco Diretto, Verónica Aragonés, Sarah Frusciante (2020) · Metabolic Engineering
Evolutionarily distinct carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases are responsible for crocetin production in Buddleja davidii
Oussama Ahrazem, Gianfranco Diretto, Javier Argandoña, Ángela Rubio‐Moraga (2017) · Journal of Experimental Botany

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Buddleja 2 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 10 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.