Buttonbush is a deciduous shrub that grows 6-12 feet tall and can sometimes reach up to 20 feet. It is a multi-branched shrub with a rounded, open habit characterized by crooked and leaning branches and irregular crowns. The plant produces clusters of fragrant, white flowers shaped like pincushions, each with tubular, five-lobed petals. These flowers appear in dense, spherical flower heads about 1.5 inches in diameter, attracting hummingbirds, butterflies, and other insect pollinators. As the flowers fade, they give way to hard, spherical, ball-like fruits containing multiple tiny, two-seeded nutlets. These fruiting heads typically persist throughout the winter months.
The buttonbush's glossy, bright green leaves are ovate to elliptic in shape, approximately 6 inches long, and usually occur in pairs or whorls. The leaves emerge late in spring. The genus name "buttonbush" originates from the Greek words kephale, meaning "head," and anthos, meaning "flower." Buttonbush is an attractive ornamental plant that thrives in wet soils and is well-regarded as a source of nectar for honeybees. It is commonly found in various habitats throughout Texas, including moist open areas, low woods, thickets, swamps, upland sinkhole ponds, river bottomlands, and margins of streams and ponds. Ducks, water birds, and shorebirds consume the seeds of buttonbush.
