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Buttonbush flower head. |
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Close-up of the flower head. The individual flowers are about 1/3" long and have four petals. The protruding part is the style. In Ontario the flowers appear in July. |
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A fully opened flower head, with two heads just in bud beside it, of the same plant. |
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A whole shrub in flower. |
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The flower heads, now seed balls, persist through the winter. These are the "buttons" that give the shrub its name. |
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The inside of the seed balls. |
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A grove of Buttonbush in a marsh (or is this a "swamp" since it's covered by the shrub?), in June. |
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Closer view of the shrub, in June. Buttonbush ranges from 3-10 feet tall. |
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Buttonbush leaves are in opposite pairs or in whorls of three (see next photo). The only other Ontario tree/shrub that has leaves in whorls of three is the Northern Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) tree. |
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Another picture of the leaves. They are usually about 3-6" long and egg-shaped, pointed at the tip. |
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Buttonbush leaves can also be very shiny. |
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The underside of the leaves. |
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What a "grove" of these shrubs looks like in winter. |
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It's real tough to get through a grove of these shrubs, winter or summer, as seen in this photo. |
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Range map for Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
PLEASE NOTE: A coloured Province or State means this species occurs somewhere in that Province/State.
The entire Province/State is coloured, regardless of where in that Province/State it occurs.
(Range map provided courtesy of the USDA website
and is displayed here in accordance with their
Policies)
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