Cotinus coggygria Wig Tree, Smoke Tree
Family
Anacardiaceae
Genus
Cotinus
Species
coggygria
Cotinus coggygria, syn. Rhus cotinus, the European smoketree, Eurasian smoketree,
smoke tree, smoke bush, or dyer's sumach 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.