Buttonbush is a woody shrub (3-10 feet tall) that occasionally grows into a small tree and can be found above water or in water up to 4 feet deep. It has shiny dark-green spear-or egg-shaped pointed leaves 3 to 6 inches long. The leaves are opposite or whorled in 3′s or 4′s along the stem. Flowers of buttonbush are easily identified by their greenish-white tube flowers in dense ball-shaped clusters about 1 inch in diameter. Seed heads are brown.
This bush can grow up to 15 feet tall, but is usually much shorter (few feet). Its leaves are usually between three and six inches long, and are shiny, dark green and pointed.
Buttonbush seeds are eaten by ducks, geese, and shorebirds. White-tailed Deer munch on leaves and twigs. Bees and butterflies visit flowers for nectar, and help pollinate them.
Wood Ducks often roost in Buttonbushes, and many songbirds build nests in them. Other small animals, such as frogs, salamanders, and insects use Buttonbush as cover.
Some other plants often found growing with Buttonbush include: Red Maple, Black Cherry, American Elm, Sassafras, Sweetgum, Yellow Poplar, Black Willow, American Sycamore, Black Oak, Willow Oak, American Beech, Sugar Maple, American Holly, Viburnum, Poison Ivy, Switchgrass, and sedges.
Because it likes water, Buttonbush does very well in flood conditions.
The leaves of Buttonbush turn yellow in the Fall before dropping off.
Submerged portions of all aquatic plants provide habitats for many micro and macro invertebrates. These invertebrates in turn are used as food by fish and other wildlife species (e.g. amphibians, reptiles, ducks, etc. ). After aquatic plants die, their decomposition by bacteria and fungi provides food (called “detritus”) for many aquatic invertebrates. Buttonbush seeds are occasionally eaten by ducks but the bush itself is used for nesting by many bird species.
