Index of Species Information
SPECIES: Cephalanthus occidentalis
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| Common buttonbush. Creative Commons image by Nancy Loewenstein, Auburn University, Bugwood.org. |
Introductory
SPECIES: Cephalanthus occidentalis
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION:
Snyder, S. A. 1991. Cephalanthus occidentalis. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/shrub/cepocc/all.html [].
Updates: On 1 March 2018, the common name of this species was changed in FEIS from: buttonbush
to: common buttonbush. Images were also added.
ABBREVIATION:
CEPOCC
SYNONYMS:
Cephalanthus occidentalis var. pubescens (Raf.)
Cephalanthus occidentalis var. californicus (Benth.)
Cephalanthus occidentalis var. angustifolius (Dippel) [8,21,28]
NRCS PLANT CODE:
CEOC2
COMMON NAMES:
common buttonbush
buttonball
buttonbush
button willow
riverbush
TAXONOMY:
The scientific name of common buttonbush is Cephalanthus
occidentalis L. (Rubiaceae) [8].
LIFE FORM:
Shrub, Tree
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS:
No special status
OTHER STATUS:
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Cephalanthus occidentalis
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:
Common buttonbush's distribution 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 [8,16].
Scattered populations exist in New Mexico, Arizona, and the Central
Valley of California [28].
 |
| Distribution of common buttonbush. 1977 USDA, Forest Service map digitized by Thompson and others [37]. |
ECOSYSTEMS:
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
FRES17 Elm - ash - cottonwood
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
FRES32 Texas savanna
FRES41 Wet grasslands
FRES42 Annual grasslands
STATES:
AL AZ AR CA CT DE FL GA IL IN
IA KS KY LA ME MA MI MN MS MO
NE NH NJ NM NC OH OK PA RI SC
TN TX VT VA WV WI NB NS ON PQ
MEXICO
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:
3 Southern Pacific Border
7 Lower Basin and Range
12 Colorado Plateau
13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont
14 Great Plains
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:
K030 California oakwoods
K049 Tule marshes
K080 Marl - Everglades
K091 Cypress savanna
K092 Everglades
K098 Northern floodplain forest
K099 Maple - basswood forest
K100 Oak - hickory forest
K101 Elm - ash forest
K102 Beech - maple forest
K103 Mixed mesophytic forest
K104 Appalachian oak forest
K105 Mangrove
K106 Northern hardwoods
K110 Northeastern oak - pine forest
K112 Southern mixed forest
K113 Southern floodplain forest
K114 Pocosin
SAF COVER TYPES:
14 Northern pin oak
16 Aspen
19 Grey birch - red maple
26 Sugar maple - basswood
27 Sugar maple
28 Black cherry - maple
39 Black ash - American elm - red maple
43 Bear oak
63 Cottonwood
64 Sassafras - persimmon
65 Pin oak - sweet gum
74 Cabbage palmetto
87 Sweet gum - yellow-poplar
88 Willow oak - water oak - diamondleaf oak
89 Live oak
91 Swamp chestnut oak - cherrybark oak
92 Sweetgum - willow oak
93 Sugarberry - American elm - green ash
94 Sycamore - sweetgum - American elm
95 Black willow
96 Overcup oak - water hickory
100 Pondcypress
101 Baldcypress
102 Baldcypress - tupelo
103 Water tupelo - swamp tupelo
104 Sweetbay - swamp tupelo - redbay
105 Tropical hardwoods
106 Mangrove
108 Red maple
235 Cottonwood - willow
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES:
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:
Common buttonbush is a wetland shrub common to most swamps and floodplains of
eastern and southern North America [8,28]. It is listed as a component
of the following community types:
Area Classification Authority
CA: Sacramento Valley riparian cts Conard & others 1977
United States wetland cts Cowardin & others 1979
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Cephalanthus occidentalis
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE:
Many species of waterfowl and shorebirds eat common buttonbush seeds [18,28].
White-tailed deer use of common buttonbush browse varies from light in
Pennsylvania [32] to heavy in Nova Scotia [23]. Bees use common buttonbush to
produce honey [31].
PALATABILITY:
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE:
NO-ENTRY
COVER VALUE:
Common buttonbush is important to wood ducks for brood rearing and hiding [19].
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES:
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES:
The bark of common buttonbush was traditionally used for making laxatives, and
for curing skin, bronchial, and venereal diseases [28]. Caution must be
used, however, because the bark contains cephalathin, a poison that can
induce vomiting, paralysis, and convulsions.
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:
Much of common buttonbush's natural habitat in California is being destroyed by
agriculture and water development projects; common buttonbush is not a good
colonizer of manmade waterways [13]. Common buttonbush is moderately
susceptible to herbicides; if shrubs become too thick, they can be
reduced by cutting in the fall during low water [4,18].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Cephalanthus occidentalis
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Common buttonbush is a deciduous, warm-season, tall shrub or small tree that
can reach up to 18 feet (6 m) in height [28]. Its base is often
swollen. Branches are usually green when young but turn brown at
maturity. Common buttonbush has opposite, lanceolate-oblong leaves about 7
inches (18 cm) long and 3 inches (7.5 cm) wide [24]. Tiny, white
flowers occur in dense, spherical clusters at the ends of the branches.
Fruits are a round cluster of brown, cone-shaped nutlets [28].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM:
Phanerophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES:
Common buttonbush regenerates by seed. Seed is best collected when the nutlets
have turned reddish-brown, and averages about 134,000 per pound
(60,702/kg) [31]. Pretreatment of seeds is unnecessary [3]. Seeds have
a low germination rate [28]. Common buttonbush can also be propagated by
planting cuttings in moist, sandy soil.
SITE CHARACTERISTICS:
Common buttonbush grows along swamps, marshes, bogs, ditches, and other
riparian areas that are inundated for at least part of the year [8,24].
It grows in alluvial plains that experience intermittent flooding, but
can be damaged by spring flooding [12,20,23]. Faber-Langendoen and
Maycock [7] reported that common buttonbush was very tolerant of flooding and
that its abundance increased with increasing water depth. These authors
also reported an increase in common buttonbush with an increase in light level.
Elevational and geographical distribution of common buttonbush may be limited
by mean July temperatures of 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 deg C) [13].
Elevations have been reported at 635 feet (193 m) in Illinois [1] and
between 60 and 160 feet (22-50 m) in Quebec [27]. Common buttonbush was found
growing in sandy, loamy sandy, or alluvial soil with a sandy or silty
surface in Quebec [27].
Common associates of common buttonbush include American beech (Fagus
grandifolia), red maple (Acer rubrum), sugar maple (A. saccharum), ash
(Fraxinus spp.), black oak (Quercus velutina), pin oak (Q. palustris),
tupelo and gum (Nyssa spp.), baldcypress (Taxodium distichum), southern
bayberry (Myrica cerifera), redbay (Persea palustris), holly (Ilex
spp.), dogberry (Ribes cynosbati), grape (Vitis spp.), viburnum
(Viburnum spp.), poison-ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), indiangrass
(Sorgastrom nutans), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), switchgrass
(Panicum virgatum), and sedge (Carex spp.) [5,7,11].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS:
Common buttonbush is a pioneer species in frequently flooded baldcypress/water
tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) swamps, establishing on rotting logs and stumps
[35]. In the Sacremento Valley, common buttonbush/dogwood (Corunus spp.)
communities are succeeded by white alder (Alnus rhombifolia)/willow
(Salix spp.)/Oregon ash (Fraxinus latifolia) and eventually cottonwood
(Populus spp.) forests [36]. Common buttonbush also colonizes lowland marsh
communities dominated by hardstem bulrush (Scirpus acutus).
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT:
Common buttonbush flowers between June and September and produces fruit between
September and October [8,24,28].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Cephalanthus occidentalis
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS:
Because the base of common buttonbush shrubs are partially submerged during
most of the year, fire may not be a threat.
FIRE REGIMES:
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY:
off-site colonizer; seed carried by animals or water; postfire yr 1&2
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Cephalanthus occidentalis
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT:
Fire likely top-kills common buttonbush.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT:
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE:
Common buttonbush sprouts following fire [9,11].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE:
Common buttonbush can become the dominant shrub in grassy, wetland areas of the
South excluded from fire [14]. However, when these areas are burned
common buttonbush has been observed sprouting within a few months following
fire [9,11,29]. Frequent fires in hardwood swamps of the South often
promote willow sprouting and, occasionally, common buttonbush sprouting [30].
Following 2 years of drought, a severe fire in an area of the Okefenokee
Swamp that supported common buttonbush killed most of the trees and consumed a
1-inch (2.45 cm) layer of peat. Common buttonbush was first observed
on study plots 7 years later [34].
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:
In Southern marshlands, where grasses are thick and impenetrable, fire
can reduce grass densities and release nutrients, which enhances
establishment of shrubs such as common buttonbush [29].
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Cephalanthus occidentalis
REFERENCES:
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FEIS Home Page
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/shrub/cepocc/all.html
