A late December drive in rural Bossier Parish afforded us the opportunity to collect seeds for dispersal in the arboretum. The purpose of the expedition was to examine a 40 acre timber lot that had been clear cut and replanted with loblolly pine seedlings approximately 12 years ago. While driving through the timber tracts, we noticed that the red dirt roads were lined with thick stands of buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis); numerous dark orbs hanging from the spindly woody branches caught our attention. To the loggers and hunters, this may appear to be trash. To your arboretum curator, it represents valuable local germplasm.
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| These buttonbush
fruits were collected from shrubs growing in a ditch lining a worn-down
gravel road surrounded by an apocalyptic clear-cut landscape. The area was cut sometime in 2021; the road
showed heavy use by big trucks and the shrubs were either growing in
full sun or partial sun. |
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| During the wamer months, buttonbush produces rounded flower heads composed of tiny white flowers. In the photo above, we see nine desiccated heads. Hopefully each head contains numerous viable seeds. |
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| Cephalanthus occidentalis fruits collected in rural Bossier Parish, December 30, 2021 |
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| The dark orbs measure between a half inch and an inch in diameter. |
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| The buttonbush fruiting heads are similar to sycamore balls (Platanus occidentalis): the spherical fruiting structures break apart into the fruits themselves. |
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| Individual fruits are more than a ¼ inch in length. |
Currently there is only one buttonbush in the arboretum collection. It is nearly 30 years old. You can find it growing in full shade directly next to the long white wooden bridge that runs between the Student Union Building and Mickle Hall. It has developed into a small tree, and it flowers, but the flowers appear without fanfare because, of the few flowers that appear, they are up above, out of sight. So, for this new collection of seeds, we ought to select locations in the arboretum that would be better suited to flowering--the online literature suggests that we should choose a wet location that receives full or partial sun.
