Buttonbush
Cephalanthus occidentalis
(sef-uh-LAN-thus) (ock-sih-den-TAY-liss)
Rubiaceae
This is isn’t my favorite shrub but in the right place it can work. It likes full sun and moist soil. It is native to most of the Unites States were it can be found growing in bogs, drainage ditches and even in shallow standing water. It gets quite large and the multi-stems can reach 12 to 15 feet. I have been cutting mine down every couple of years to keep the size manageable. This specimen was growing at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden in the native flora area. Cephalanthus is in the Rubiaceae family which is the fourth largest plant family. It has several familiar members including Sweet Woodruff, Gardenia and Coffee.
This Hoover Fly was sitting on top of the large planting of ‘Zowie Yellow Flame’. I have featured both the Zinnia (Z.elegans ‘Zowie Yellow Flame’) and the
Hoover Fly (Toxomerus geminatus) before.
This last one is an abstract of a tall unnamed Lily that was growing in the Perennial Area.
We have had 2+ inches of rain since Thursday, which is odd. I went from worrying how I was going to water everything to flooding concerns and I am looking forward to the predicted heat wave for next week. I love nature.
Synonyms: Honey Bells, Honeyball, Button Willow
5 comments:
I saw the buttonbush in a catalog and thought about buying it but forgot to which apparently by your description is just as well. I didn't know it grew so large but the flower cluster is quite interesting.
Your macro camera lens has great depth of field esp. in the photo of the unknown lily.
I skip it unless I had a really big garden. I love the 60mm macro lens.
What a wonderful flowers! Great shots, congratulation! ^^
ele ^_^,
thanks for the comment and I hope you enjoyed your visit!
I love the flowers here more than the roses :) I especially like the buttonbush.
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