Although it can grow to be as tall as 20 feet, the buttonbush is usually 6-8 feet tall. It ordinarily also has a spread of about 6-8 feet, thus it needs a pretty large amount of room from other bushes.

Some have described it as having a scrubby look, and there are often dead branches in its natural state.

It has what’s called deciduous leaves, which means that it normally sheds its leaves once a year.

Mostly, the leaves grow in opposite pairs. However some of them are in whorls or circular arrangements, but not all, thus why it is described as being “scrubby.”

The leaves are best described as being oval or elliptic. Ordinarily the leaves are long, 3 to 6 inches, and they can be 2 to 4 inches wide.

Those little flowers rise up from the ball in scattered clusters, hence giving the appearance of a pincushion.

The flowers are very sweetly scented, and arise out of the ball in summer and late spring. Eventually the flowers turn into reddish brown nut shaped growths, which are in actuality fruit balls.

They have an extremely rough texture, and at times, the hanging balls may last through the winter season.

There are many varieties of the bush, but one thing is very certain, and that is the fact that the best species grow in wetlands.

It grows extremely well in marshlands and in swamps.

Or you can find the plant located along the banks of various streams or ponds. The bush will easily grow where there is standing water for parts of the year. Naturally it grows all along the East Coast of Canada and the US.

It also can be found in its natural state primarily in Minnesota, Mexico and Texas, though it also grows in its natural state in California.

The buttonbush, when it grows in standing water, will occasionally form pure, but very dense strands. The plant is quite important to swamp life.

The submerged portions of the buttonbush provide habitats for countless micro and macro invertebrates, which are creatures without a backbone.

From there, the food chain system allows these invertebrates to be used in turn as food by various kinds of fish as well as amphibians such as ducks and reptiles.

Even the seeds provide food as ducks and many different kinds of birds will eat them. The plant itself provides nesting areas for birds due to the manner in which the leaves grow into a thicket.

If you wish to attract hummingbirds, butterflies or bees, the buttonbush’s flowers actually smell like honey. Top of buttonbush page

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