This is a good example of confusion due to multiple common names. Those included in literature include buttonbush, honey-balls, and globe-flowers while an additional common name used locally and thus here is balled-willow, which is especially confusing due to the homonym bald-willow due to little similarity with willows (Salix) other that similarity of wet habitats. All of these common names refer to Cephalanthus occidentalis, and variously refer to the shape of the flower and seed head, the usual shrubby form, importance as a honey plant, and/or the habitat similarity with willow. This is an excellent flowering shrub or small tree for very wet areas as it can often be found in standing water for much of the year. The simple leaves are opposite and/or whorled and terminal cymes of globular white flowers are produced. The habitat often produces a natural bonsai form and these are usually among the last woody plants remaining on the eroding islands of local lakes.