Buttonbush
Cephalanthus occidentalis
Perfect white spheres bristling with protruding styles open through midsummer, swarming with butterflies and bees before hardening into seedballs that persist all winter. One of the very few shrubs that will grow standing in water, which makes it a backbone plant for pond edges, swales and rain gardens. The leaves contain glucosides and are toxic in quantity.
- Family
- Rubiaceae
- Type
- tree
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 5–12 ft
- Spacing
- 4–8 ft apart
- Light
- part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- moist, wet
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- June, July, August, September
- Bloom colors
- white, pink
- Wildlife value
- songbirds, butterflies, pollinators, larval host
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~19 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- rain garden
- Native states
- AL, AR, AZ, CA, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV