White and Greenish 



in spires, endlessly expressive, deceptive, fantastic, never the 

 same from footstalks to blossom, they seem perpetually to tempt 

 our watchfulness, and take delight in outstripping our wonder." 

 Doubtless light is the factor with the greatest effect in determin- 

 ing the position of the leaves on the stem, if not their shape. 

 After plenty of light has been secured, any aid they may render 

 the flowers in increasing their attractiveness is gladly rendered. 

 Who shall deny that the brilliant foliage of the sumacs, the 

 dogwood, and the pokeweed in autumn does not greatly help 

 them in attracting the attention of migrating birds to their fruit, 

 whose seeds they wish distributed ? Or that the clustered leaves 

 of the dwarf cornel and Culver's-root, among others, do not set 

 off to great advantage their white flowers which, when seen by 

 an insect flying overhead, are made doubly conspicuous by the 

 leafy background formed by the whorl? 



Button-bush ; Honey-balls ; Globe-flower ; 

 Button-ball Shrub; River-bush 



(Cepbalanthus occidentalis) Madder family 



Flowers Fragrant, white, small, tubular, hairy within, 4-parted, 

 the long, yellow-tipped style far protruding ; the florets 

 clustered on a fleshy receptacle, in round heads (about i in. 

 across), elevated on long peduncles from leaf-axils or ends 

 of branches. Stem: A shrub 3 to 12 ft. high. Leaves: 

 Opposite or in small whorls, petioled, oval, tapering at the 

 tip, entire. (Illustration facing p. 209.) 



Preferred Habitat Beside streams and ponds ; swamps, lovr 

 ground. 



Flowering Season J une September. 



Distribution New Brunswick to Florida and Cuba, westward to 

 Arizona and California. 



Delicious fragrance, faintly suggesting jessamine, leads one 

 over marshy ground to where the button-bush displays dense, 

 creamy- white globes of bloom, heads that Miss Lounsberry aptly 

 likens to " little cushions full of pins." Not far away the sweet 

 breath of the white-spiked clethra comes at the same season, 

 and one cannot but wonder why these two bushes, which 

 are so beautiful when most garden shrubbery is out of flower, 

 should be left to waste their sweetness, if not on desert air exactly, 

 on air that blows far from the homes of men. Partially shaded 

 and sheltered positions near a house, if possible, suit these water 

 lovers admirably. Cultivation only increases their charms. We 



