MADDER FAMILY 



RUBIACE^E MADDER FAMILY 



Cephalanthus ocddentalis, L. 



White Button-bush, Boxwood, 



Buttonwood Shrub, Honey-balls, 



June-September Button-tree, Pin-ball, 



Button Willow, Little Snowball, 



River-bush, Globe-flower, 



Swamp-wood, Crane-willow. 



Cephalanthus: Greek, signifying head-flower. 

 Ocddentalis: Latin for western. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: damp places near ditches. 



THE SHRUB: erect, three feet to eight feet high, much 

 branched; the branches hairless or with few, short, soft 

 hairs. 



THE LEAVES: opposite or verticillate in threes; ovate or 

 oval or tending to lanceolate; essentially hairless; tapering 

 to a point or acute at the apex; rounded or narrowed at 

 the base; petioled; entire; with short stipules. 



THE FLOWERS: very fragrant, sessile, in globose heads 

 which are about an inch in diameter; the style almost 

 twice the length of the corolla. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule. 



Reading through the list of popular names for this 

 rather inconspicuous bush of the damp ground, gives one 

 a fairly clear mental picture of the symmetrical shrub, 

 with ovate and toothless leaves and yellow- white "balls" 

 of a heavy, honey-sweet odour, that is perceptible even 

 from quite a distance. 



It is not a shrub that can be used for decoration, for 

 the short-lived, white flowers quickly become a dingy 

 brown, and the leaves frequently wilt and are not easily 

 refreshed in water. 



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