Cotinus coggygria, syn. Rhus cotinus (Eurasian Smoke tree, 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 - 7m tall with an open, spreading, irregular habit, only rarely forming a small tree. The leaves are 3-8cm long rounded ovals, green with a waxing glaucous sheen. The autumn color can be strikingly varied, from peach and yellow to scarlet. The flowers are numerous, produced in large inflorescences 15-30cm long; each flower 5-10mm in 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 2-3mm drupaceous fruit that do develop.
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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