CEPHALANTHUS OCCIDENTALIS
Scientific Name: Cephalanthus occidentalis L.
Common Name: Button Bush, Button Willow
Family: RUBIACEAE
Pubescent or glabrate shrub. Leaves opposite or whorled, ovate to ellipic, 6-15 cm or
more long, 3-10 cm wide, cuspidate or acute, pinnately veined. Flowers in terminal and
axillary, pedunculate, globose heads 2-3.5 cm in diam., Calyx lobes 4, so crowded as to be
indistinct; corolla white, tube slender, 6-10 mm long, lobes 1-2 mm long, pubescent on the
inner surface; stamens 4, inserted at the rim of the tube; stigmas capitate, exserted 5-8 mm
beyond the corolla, often covered with masses of pollen. Nutlets elongate, obpyramidal, 4-7
mm long. (n=22) June-August; August-September. Low areas, margins of creeks, lakes and
marshes; essentially throughout but infrequent in mountains. [SE]
You can see more information on this family,
Rubiaceae,
from the DELTA collection, on the Biodiversity and Biological Collections server, at the University of Kansas. To visit their server, use the triangular link below.
Visit the DELTA Home Page
Back to the Photo Gallery
Back to the Table of Contents