Botanical name |
Buddleja saligna (SA No 636) |
Other names |
False olive; butterfly bush; chilianthus olearaceus; witolien (Afrikaans); mothlware (Tswana); ungqeba (Xhosa) |
Family |
Buddlejaceae (some records place it in Scrophulariaceae or Loganiaceae!) |
Dimensions |
Shrub or small to medium tree; slender, erect evergreen; 2 to 7 m; in the warm high rainfall areas it may reach 10 m |
Description of stem |
Brown, greyish brown; flaking, fissured; the young branchlets tend to be square |
Description of leaves |
Oblong or lanceolate, decussate; dark green above, grey, hairy below; netveining conspicuously raised and linked along the inside of the edges |
Description of flowers |
Abundant terminal and axillary heads of small, creamy-white, pleasantly scented flowerheads structured in three-flowered cymes; from August to January |
Description of seed/fruit |
Small, ovoid, hairy capsule, 2 mm in length, containing very small seeds |
Description of roots |
|
Variation |
|
Propagation and cultivation |
Grows easily from seed and cuttings; fast-growing |
Tolerances |
Hardy in the dry summer rainfall areas, frost resistant |
Uses |
Garden tree with spectacular spring flowers, an option for the smaller garden; used as a bonsai species; leaf decoctions used medicinally for coughs and colds, sometimes for thrush, sores and even diabetes and tuberculosis; the roots are sometimes used as a purgative by indigenous populations; the straight stems are good for fence posts and the wood is also used for smaller utensils |
Ecological rarity |
Common, robust spontaneous propagation in some areas as a pioneer tree |
Pests and diseases |
|
Other |
Attracts insects and thus insect-eating birds |
Location |
Dry slopes in woodland, rocky outcrops, forest margins and ravines; it is often a pioneer for indigenous bush |
Distribution |
Western, Northern and Eastern Cape; Kwazulu-Natal; Free State; Gauteng; North West; Limpopo; Mpumalanga |
Country |
South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe |