Tree · Rubiaceae
Common buttonbush
Cephalanthus occidentalis
Common buttonbush is recorded as native to 29 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,340 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Common buttonbush at a glance
- Native in
- 1,340 counties, across 29 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 15 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Common buttonbush is recorded as native to 29 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,340 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,340 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 49 counties
- Arizona 8 counties
- Arkansas 75 counties
- California 30 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Florida 59 counties
- Georgia 54 counties
- Illinois 94 counties
- Indiana 83 counties
- Kentucky 96 counties
- Louisiana 63 counties
- Maine 14 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Minnesota 8 counties
- Missouri 111 counties
- Nebraska 9 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 20 counties
- New York 53 counties
- North Carolina 72 counties
- Oklahoma 42 counties
- Pennsylvania 55 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 40 counties
- Tennessee 69 counties
- Texas 84 counties
- Vermont 6 counties
- Virginia 83 counties
- Wisconsin 36 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 15 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 20 to 80 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.7 to 8.6
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 14 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 150
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- White
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Rubiaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CEOC2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Cephalanthus occidentalis (PLANTS symbol CEOC2).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources