Index / Search / Cephalanthus occidentalis

§1 Plant

Cephalanthus occidentalis L.

vernacular common buttonbush — species · Rubiaceae


USDA
CEOC2
GBIF
2923947
Rank
species
common buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
Platephotograph · flwildbeauty source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Shrub, Tree
Duration
Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Rubiaceae Juss.
Genus
Cephalanthus
§2a

Native status, by region

  • CAN Canada Native
  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 1,270 counties across 29 states/territories
Legend Native · 1270 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Medium
Shade
Low
Moisture use
High
Fire
Medium
Salinity
Low
Anaerobic
High
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-33 °F minimum
Frost-free days
150 min.
Precipitation
20–80 in/yr
pH range
4.7–8.6
Root depth
14 in min.
Fertility need
Low
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Multiple Stem
Growth rate
Moderate
Lifespan
Short
Mature height
15 ft
Height @ 20 y
15 ft
Foliage texture
Coarse
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Moderate
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
White
Fruit colour
White
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Summer
Seed abundance
Medium
Seed begins
Fall
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Moderate
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
134,000
Propagation
seed, cuttings, bare root, container
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
Low
Graze palatability
Low
Palatable, human
No
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 1,270 counties across 29 states/territories.

Alabama view state ↗ 50 N
Arizona view state ↗ 8 N
Arkansas view state ↗ 75 N
Delaware view state ↗ 1 N
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 N
Florida view state ↗ 59 N
Georgia view state ↗ 64 N
Illinois view state ↗ 96 N
Indiana view state ↗ 84 N
Iowa view state ↗ 12 N
Kansas view state ↗ 58 N
Kentucky view state ↗ 99 N
Louisiana view state ↗ 63 N
Maine view state ↗ 14 N
Massachusetts view state ↗ 14 N
Michigan view state ↗ 52 N
Minnesota view state ↗ 9 N
Mississippi view state ↗ 64 N
New Hampshire view state ↗ 10 N
New Jersey view state ↗ 20 N
New York view state ↗ 53 N
North Carolina view state ↗ 72 N
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 55 N
Rhode Island view state ↗ 3 N
South Carolina view state ↗ 40 N
Tennessee view state ↗ 72 N
Vermont view state ↗ 9 N
Virginia view state ↗ 84 N
West Virginia view state ↗ 29 N

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/CEOC2 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2923947 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T07:25:30Z