Cotinus coggygria

Cotinus coggygria
Foliage and seed heads
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Sapindales
Family:	Anacardiaceae
Genus:	Cotinus
Species:	C. coggygria
Binomial name
Cotinus coggygria (Scop.)

Cotinus coggygria, syn. Rhus cotinus (Eurasian smoketree, smoke tree, or smoke bush) is a species of flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae, native to a large area from southern Europe, east across central Asia and the Himalayas to northern China.

It is a multiple-branching shrub growing to 5–7 m (16–23 ft) tall with an open, spreading, irregular habit, only rarely forming a small tree. The leaves are 3-8 cm long rounded ovals, green with a waxy glaucous sheen. The autumn colour can be strikingly varied, from peach and yellow to scarlet. The flowers are numerous, produced in large inflorescences 15–30 cm (5.9–11.8 in) long; each flower 5-10 mm diameter, with five pale yellow petals. Most of the flowers in each inflorescence abort, elongating into yellowish-pink to pinkish-purple feathery plumes (when viewed en masse these have a wispy 'smoke-like' appearance, hence the common name) which surround the small (2-3 mm) drupaceous fruit that do develop.

Cultivation and uses

It is commonly grown as an ornamental plant, with several cultivars available. Many of these have been selected for purple foliage and flowers.

The species and its cultivars 'Royal Purple' and 'Flame' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

The wood was formerly used to make the yellow dye called young fustic.

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  spring leaves

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  Cotinus coggygria
  "Daydream" variety

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  Autumn leaf

External links

• Flora Europaea: European distribution