Buddleja davidii var. veitchiana was collected in Hubei and introduced to cultivation by E. H. Wilson; it was named after the British nurseryman and horticulturist James Veitch by Rehder.Bean, W. J. (1950). Trees and shrubs hardy in Great Britain, 7th edition. Murray, London.Stuart, D. D. (2006). Buddlejas. RHS Plant Collector Guide. Timber Press, Oregon. The taxonomy of the plant and the other five B. davidii varieties has been challenged in recent years. Leeuwenberg sank them all as synonyms, considering them to be within the natural variation of a species,Leeuwenberg, A.J.M. (1979). The Loganiaceae of Africa XVIII Buddleja L. II. Revision of the African and Asiatic species. Mededelingen Landbouwhogeschool Wageningen, Nederland a treatment adopted in the Flora of China published in 1996,Li, P-T. & Leeuwenberg, A. J. M. (1996). Loganiaceae, in Wu, Z. & Raven, P. (eds) Flora of China, Vol. 15, p. 335. Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, USA. online at www.efloras.org and also upheld by both the Plants of the World Online database and the International Dendrology Society's Trees and Shrubs Online website.
Var. veitchiana was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's First Class Certificate (FCC) in 1902.Hillier & Sons. (1990). Hillier's Manual of Trees & Shrubs, 5th ed.. p. 47. David & Charles, Newton Abbot.
Description Buddleja davidii var. veitchiana is chiefly distinguished by its dense panicles of lavender-blue flowers with orange eyes. The plant is otherwise like the type.
Cultivation Now rare in cultivation, a specimen is still grown in the UK, at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens near Romsey; another is held by the University of Copenhagen's Botanic Garden. The shrub does not appear to remain in commerce in the UK, and was last listed in the RHS Plantfinder in 2010.
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