buddleia

American  

[buhd-lee-uh, buhd-lee-uh] / bʌdˈli ə, ˈbʌd li ə /

noun

1. any shrub belonging to the genus Buddleia, of the logania family, having opposite, lance-shaped leaves and clusters of flowers, comprising the butterfly bushes.

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buddleia British  

/ ˈbʌdlɪə /

noun

1. Also called: butterfly bush.  any ornamental shrub of the genus Buddleia , esp B. davidii , which has long spikes of mauve flowers and is frequently visited by butterflies: family Buddleiaceae

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Etymology

Origin of buddleia

< New Latin (Linnaeus), named after Adam Buddle (died 1715), English botanist; see -ia

Example Sentences

Hummingbirds zipped in and out of a purple buddleia bush; Hugo, an eager-to-please Border collie, stretched out on the porch, smelling faintly of skunk.

From New York Times • Oct. 14, 2022

Edinburgh’s old Royal Infirmary has been abandoned for more than a decade, its doors boarded up, its gutters overgrown with buddleia and fireweed.

From The Guardian • Nov. 22, 2019

Candidates include asters, Russian sage, caryopteris, lespedeza, buddleia and chrysanthemums.

From Washington Post • May 28, 2019

Guy Barter, chief horticultural adviser at the RHS, which has given four buddleia davidii plants Awards of Garden Merit, says the species has not and had never been proposed for Schedule Nine.

From BBC • Jul. 14, 2014

At the foot of the garden, behind a clump of gooseberry-bushes, stood an arbour formed of a yellow buddleia.

From Australia Felix by Richardson, Henry Handel