buttonbush

Buttonbush Cephalanthus occidentalis
Family: Rubiaceae (Bedstraw)
Branching: Opposite / Whorled

Buttonbush is a common shrub in swampy areas. Often it grows in dense thickets that can be next to impossible to walk through. It rarely grows higher than the height of a person. In the winter, its fruits are usually present and made identification very easy.

The fruit as seen in the winter. Most twigs end in a fruit rather than an end bud

Lateral buds

Lenticels on the bark

Buttonbush buds and leaf scars are often whorled, though usually not at the ends of the twigs.
Notice how there is only one large bundle scar in the middle of the leaf scar

A buttonbush grove