This specimen is larger than the “smoke tree” shrubs (Cotinus coggy- gria, a Euro-China native) that are more commonly seen. Cotinus obovatus — native to the Southern U.S. — is not as often used in the land- scape.
The actual flowers of this plant are small and not showy. But the struc- tures that hold the flowers are covered with hairs, and these hairs are the “smoke” for which the tree is named. (Identification of this specimen is not 100%.)
This amazing species has in the past been used so extensively as a source of yellow dye that during the Civil War it almost became extinct in its native habitats.
