Buttonbush, Honey Bells, Button Willow, Globe Flower                sef-a-LAN-thus ok-si-den-TA-lis

• Deciduous shrub (evergreen in warm areas), broad, open, usually with several trunks, to 3-6 ft (0.9-1.8 m) tall, twice that in the southern part of its range.  Leaves simple, opposite or in whorls of 3, narrowly ovate to ovate-oblong, 9-11 cm long, 3-4.5 cm wide, margin entire, often short-ciliate, tip pointed, base rounded, upper surface glossy dark green, paler below; petiole 0.5-1 cm long; leaves emerge late in spring.  Flowers in 3-cm globular, white clusters, fragrant, each flower small, about 4 mm wide; attract butterflies.  Fruit in globose heads, about 3 cm wide, yellowish to red.
• Sun to light shade, best in moist situations; will not grow well in dry sites.  Useful for naturalizing in wet areas.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 4  (southern forms less hardy)    Very large native range, it extends from southern Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario south through southern Florida and west through the eastern half of the Great Plains States.  Scattered populations exist in New Mexico, Arizona, and the central valley of California.
• occidentalis: western