Buttonbush aka "Honeyballs" (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

Buttonbush ("Honeyballs")Buttonbush is a semi-aquatic woody shrub with numerous spherical seed heads that give the deciduous shrub its name.

Buttonbush's scientific name, Cephalanthus occidentalis, means "western headflower," referring to its occurrence in the Western Hemisphere--there are
related species in Asia--and to the dozens of individual blossoms on its spherical "head-shaped" flower cluster. Buttonbush, normally ten feet tall,
occurs in nearly all states east of the Great Plains but thrives in the Southeast, where it occasionally surpasses shrub height to become a 45-foot tree.

Also called "Honeyballs" because of its flower fragrance, Buttonbush is in the Madder Family (Rubiaceae), one of the largest plant families
with more than 500 genera and 7,000 species worldwide. Fellow family members found in the Carolinas include Partridge-Berry, Bluets, and Bedstraw,
but surprisingly enough the most familiar relative is a native of the Middle East . . . the Coffee tree.

source: www.hiltonpond.org

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