CEPHALANTHUS occidentalis. Button bush; button willow. California and the Southwest. A nearly round, bushy shrub with sturdy trunks and attractive pale bark. Paired or whorled along the stems are glossy, willow-like leaves, up to 6" long. Appearing at the shoot tips in early summer are open clusters of extremely tight, round cream-colored flower heads with protruding stigmas and stamens. They much resemble golf balls with antennae. The resemblance only grows as the flowers fade and the crowded seed capsules form. In late fall, the leaves turn a vivid yellow, hanging on in this state for several weeks. This is an attractive and unusual shrub for gardens large enough to accommodate it. It thrives in sun or light shade and most soils, with regular watering (this is a streamside, not chaparral, native). Probably hardy, in this material from the southern Sierra, to 0^oF.