Buttonbush is an easy-to-recognize bush that grows in water or moist soil. It is easy to identify because of its flowers and fruits. They are usually seen in marshes, and bordering streams, ponds, and lakes. They also grow in wet woods, thickets, and ditches.

This bush can grow up to 15 feet tall, but is usually much shorter (few feet). Its leaves are usually between three and six inches long, and are shiny, dark green and pointed.

Buttonbush flowers are clustered in white "balls," about 1 1/2 inches wide (ping-pong ball size). When the flowers disappear, they leave brown, ball-like fruits filled with seeds. Buttonbush blooms from June to August; fruits stay on the plant from September to October.

Kemper Center for Home Gardening

Buttonbush seeds are eaten by ducks, geese, and shorebirds. White-tailed Deer munch on leaves and twigs. Bees and butterflies visit flowers for nectar, and help pollinate them. Wood Ducks often roost in Buttonbushes, and many songbirds build nests in them. Other small animals, such as frogs, salamanders, and insects use Buttonbush as cover.

Kenneth J. Sytsma - Wisconsin State Herbarium

Asa Thoresen - Wisconsin State Herbarium

Some other plants often found growing with Buttonbush include: Red Maple, Black Cherry, American Elm, Sassafras, Sweetgum, Yellow Poplar, Black Willow, American Sycamore, Black Oak, Willow Oak, American Beech, Sugar Maple, American Holly, Viburnum, Poison Ivy, Switchgrass, and sedges. Because it likes water, Buttonbush does very well in flood conditions. The leaves of Buttonbush turn yellow in the Fall before dropping off.

Hugh D. Wilson

Relationships in Nature:

Animals Using as Food Source	Animals Using as Shelter	Associations With Other Plants	OTHER
Honey Bee	Wood Duck	Red Maple	Honey Bee Po
Golden Northern Bumble Bee	Northern Cardinal	Tussock Sedge	Golden Northern Bumble Bee Po
Painted Lady	Gray Catbird	Black Willow	Painted Lady Po
Cabbage White	Southern Leopard Frog	Black Cherry	Cabbage White Po
Clouded Sulphur	Green Darner	Sassafras	Clouded Sulphur Po
Mallard	Ebony Jewelwing	American Elm
Wood Duck	Northern Water Snake	Black Oak
Canada Goose	Muskrat	American Holly
White-tailed Deer	Meadow Vole	Poison Ivy
Bald-faced Hornet	Common Snapping Turtle	Switchgrass
Eastern Black Swallowtail	Bullfrog	American Sycamore
Monarch	Large Diving Beetle	Yellow Poplar
	Eastern Dobsonfly	Sweetgum
	White-footed Mouse	American Beech
	Three-lined Salamander	Willow Oak
	CommonWater Strider	Sugar Maple
	Common Whitetail	Swamp Rose Mallow
	Common Yellowthroat	River Birch
	Eastern Mosquitofish
	Northern Caddis Fly

Relationship to Humans:

Buttonbush is a good plant to have near streamsides and pond shores, since it helps control erosion and can handle floods. Many people grow them for the beauty of their flowers, and because they attract wildlife.

This plant is poisonous to humans.

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION

KINGDOM Plant DIVISION Magnoliophyta CLASS Magnoliopsida ORDER Rubiales FAMILY Rubiaceae GENUS Cephalanthus SPECIES Cephalanthus occidentalis

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