Buttonwood (SPC Florida Plants )

Buttonwood

Conocarpus erectus

Summary ⁴

The buttonwood is a low-branching, multi-trunked, shrubby, evergreen tree with a typical height of 35 ft., and is often associated with mangrove communities. The plant usually grows just inland from the white mangroves. While this is the norm, green buttonwood can be found growing on beaches, and a wide variety of inland habitats such as the edges of low hammocks and the borders of fresh and brackish marshes. Buttonwood differs from mangrove in reproduction strategy. Buttonwood reproduces using seeds. Two main types of buttonwoods are recognized. The appearance of their leaves primarily distinguishes them. Conocarpus erectus is the green buttonwood. The yellow green, glabrous (hairless) leaves are leathery and slightly fleshy. Conocarpus erectus var. sericeus is the silver buttonwood, and its leaves are densely covered with silky or silvery hair giving the tree a silver color. Both types of buttonwood have simple, entire leaves; the short petioles, 1/8 to 3/8 inches long, have 2 dot-like glands and are slightly winged. The leaf blade is elliptic to oval or lanceolate and the apex obtuse or acuminate. The leaf is usually 1-1/4 inches to 4 inches long and 1/2 to 1-1/4 inches wide. While the three-mangrove species have leaves that occur opposite of each other, the buttonwood leaves are alternate. The bark is dark brown, ridged and scaly. When continually exposed to wind, the trunk takes on a distinctive gnarled and twisted shape. The twigs are yellow green when young, becoming brown with age. Flowers are inconspicuous, with clusters of white flowers mostly 1 to 3 inches long. They appear at the end of twigs and at leaf axils. There are no petals, and the sepals are fused and greenish white. Male flowers lack the tubular base (hypanthium) and pistil and have longer stamens. Buttonwoods flower and fruit throughout the year. The brownish red fruit look like old leather buttons, giving the plant its common name. The fruit is small, scaly, two-winged cone-like seeds, 5–15 mm long. The seed heads burst when ripe, and are dispersed by water.

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Range Map

iNat Map

Fruit	Red
Ecosystem	Coastal swamps, Coastal uplands, Interior uplands
Leaf arrangement	Alternate
Leaf shape	Lanceolate, Elliptic
Flowers	White
Leaf type	Simple

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