Plant Family: Rubiaceae
Growth Form: Aquatic shrub with multiple trunks.
Leaves: Opposite, simple, but often in whorls of 3 (sometimes 4); ovate to elliptic, shiny, with a long pointed apex, to 16 cm long.
Bark: Brown, fissured; the trunk is narrow.
Flowers: Individually small and white, with 4 fused petals and long protruding pistils, collectively held on long-stalked spherical heads that resemble pincushions; July to August.
Fruit: The small seeds are found on spherical heads from late summer into fall.
Habitat: Common along the shores of ponds and slow flowing rivers where it can form dense single species thickets; an obligate wetland plant.
Range: Throughout New England and all of the eastern U. S. and Canada south to the Gulf Coast. There are disjunct populations in Arizona and California.
Key Features: The aquatic habitat, leaves held in whorls of 3, and the distinctive flower heads, will identify Buttonbush.
Comments: Bees make a delicious honey from the blossoms, deer browse on the leaves, and ducks and small mammals eat the seeds.
