Buddleja in the context of "William Houstoun (botanist)"

The Lamiales (also known as the mint order) are an order of flowering plants in the asterids clade of the Eudicots. Under the APG IV system of flowering plant classification the order consists of 24 families, and includes about 23,810 species and 1,059 genera with representatives found all over the world. Well-known or economically important members of this order include aromatic, culinary, and medicinal herbs such as basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory, marjoram, oregano, hyssop, thyme, lavender, perilla, lemon verbena, catnip, bee balm, wild dagga, and oriental motherwort, as well as olives, ash trees, teak, foxgloves, lilacs, jasmine, snapdragons, African violets, Jacarandas, Paulownias, butterfly bushes, sesame, and psyllium.

Asterids are a large clade (monophyletic group) of flowering plants, composed of 17 orders and more than 80,000 species, about a third of the total flowering plant species. The asterids are divided into the unranked clades lamiids (8 orders) and campanulids (7 orders), and the single orders Cornales and Ericales. Well-known asterids include dogwoods and hydrangeas (order Cornales), tea, blueberries, cranberries, kiwifruit, Brazil nuts, argan, sapote, and azaleas (order Ericales), sunflowers, lettuce, common daisy, yacon, carrots, celery, parsley, parsnips, ginseng, ivies, holly, honeysuckle, elder, and valerian (clade campanulids), borage, forget-me-nots, comfrey, coffee, frangipani, gentian, pong-pong, oleander, periwinkle, basil, mint, rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, lavender, wild dagga, olives, ash, teak, foxgloves, lilac, jasmine, snapdragons, African violets, butterfly bushes, sesame, psyllium, potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes, chilli peppers, tobacco, petunias, morning glory, and sweet potato (clade lamiids).

Most of the taxa belonging to this clade had been referred to as Asteridae in the Cronquist system (1981) and as Sympetalae in earlier systems. The name asterids (not necessarily capitalised) resembles the earlier botanical name but is intended to be the name of a clade rather than a formal ranked name, in the sense of the ICBN.

Buddleja americana is the most widespread of all the Buddleja species native to the Americas, its range extending south from Tamaulipas, Mexico, through Central America and much of the West Indies into South America, reaching eastward to Venezuela, westward as far as the Galapagos, and south to Bolivia. It occurs at elevations from sea level to 2500 m, in a variety of habitats, including cloud forest, mountain savanna, pine–oak forest, and rocky slopes near rivers. It also invades fields and roadsides.

The species was originally named and described by Linnaeus in 1753.