PL ANT OF TH E M ON TH
JIM FUNAI, LIC Cuyahoga Community College Buddleia davidii: Butterfly-bush
SHELLEY FUNAI, LIC Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens
BUDDLEIA DAVIDII BUTTERFLY-BUSH
There are an awful lot of opinions out there surrounding this month’s plant. Opinions vary from “love, or hate” to “invasive, or essential ornamental.” Some states have banned the plant. Others have it listed on the official invasive database (Virginia, California, Delaware, Kentucky, Oregon, and Tennessee). It makes you wonder how a plant can be faced with such fervor to eradicate (in some states), yet breeders continue to crank out new varieties left and right. This month, we hope to clear up some of the myths surrounding Butterfly-Bush and shed some light on the value it may still have in our modern landscapes. Let’s start with the name. You may have seen the name spelled as “Buddleja,” and in fact, many reputable sources, such as the Missouri Botanical Garden and the International Botanical Congress, list it as such. While there is a really interesting story behind this spelling tracing back to Linnaeus himself, after careful research, we are confident the correct spelling is sans “J.” Dr. Dirr cites the namer of Buddleia as a French botanist named Adrien Franchet (born in 1834). Franchet though cannot be the person who named this plant, as we found record of the name dating back to 1737 (when Linnaeus was
24 | Official Publication of The Ohio Landscape Association
30) in his publication “Genera plantarum.” In this publication he gives credit to William Houstoun, who spelled it “Buddlea.” Linnaeus changed it to Buddleia, publishing it this way in his annual update, from 1737 on. The typesetters that printed these books – trying to be fancy – used the “j” in place of “i” and “v” in the place of “u” in the main text, but never in the index. Each year, in the update of the book, the main text would show Buddleja and the index would indicate Buddleia. There are other plants that fell into this trap, but Buddleia is one of the few to still be fighting off the habit.
