Buddleja japonica ("Fujiutsugi")

Japanese name: フジウツギ （藤空木）
Scientific name: Buddleja japonica

[Overview]
A deciduous shrub 1–1.5 m tall, growing on riverbeds and in landslide areas in the mountains.
The stem has 4 ridges and narrow wings.
Young branches have stellate hairs.
Leaves are simple and opposite, 10–20 cm long and 2.5–5 cm wide, broadly lanceolate to narrowly ovate, with a pointed tip.
The underside of the leaf has stellate hairs and is slightly whitish.
The leaf margin is usually toothed, but sometimes entire.
The nodes at the leaf base have semicircular stipule-like appendages.
Panicles at the branch tips bear many flowers, all turned to one side.
The flowers are 1.5–1.7 cm long, tubular with 4 lobes at the tip, reddish purple, and densely hairy on the outside.
The fruit is an ovoid capsule 0.7–.8 cm long.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by cuttings.
It prefers sunny, well-drained, fertile soil.
The roots are coarse, so it dislikes being transplanted.
For plants in the ground less than 2 years, water thoroughly when the soil dries; for established plants, rainfall is sufficient unless summer brings a long spell of sunny weather and the soil becomes severely dry.
Fertilizer is not particularly necessary.
The branches grow well and the shape easily becomes untidy, and if the branches are too crowded, flowering is poor and aphids appear, so in March prune the branches that grew the previous year, dead branches, and crowded parts.
Flower buds form on branches that grow in spring, so finish pruning before the branches begin to extend.
Pests and diseases include aphids and teppo-mushi (larvae of longhorn beetles).

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