Glossy, dark-green leaves
Flowers small, borne in distinctive, dense, spherical clusters (heads) with a fringe of pistils protruded beyond the white corollas. Long-lasting, unusual blossoms are white or pale-pink, one-inch globes. Subsequent rounded masses of nutlets persist through the winter.
Buttonbush is a handsome ornamental suited to wet soils and is also a honey plant.
Ducks and other water birds and shorebirds consume the seeds.