Although Buttonbush’s main territory is the midwest and eastern part of the country, it’s abundant too in parts of Arizona and California. It’s not all that much used today as an herbal medicine, I believe mainly due to the flagging popularity of bitters. Nonetheless it makes a useful daily preparation (leaf/bark) for gall stone makers, poor fat digesters, and the vegan beginning to reintroduce animal-source protein.

View photos of the medicinal plant Cephalanthus occidentalis (Buttonbush), as profiled in Medicinal Plants of the American Southwest.