Eurasian smoketree

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Smoke Tree
Foliage and seed heads
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Sapindales Family: Anacardiaceae Genus: Cotinus Species: C. coggygria
Binomial name
Cotinus coggygria (Scop.)

The Eurasian smoketree or smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria, syn. Rhus cotinus) is native to a large area from southern Europe, east across central Asia and the Himalaya to northern China.

It is a multiple-branching shrub growing to 5-7 m tall with an open, spreading, irregular habit, only rarely forming a small tree. The leaves are 3-8 cm long, rounded oval, 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 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, which surround the small (2-3 mm) drupaceous fruit that do develop.

[edit] 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.

[edit] External links

• Flora Europaea: European distribution