Cotinus obovatus

The American smoketree, Cotinus obovatus, is an uncommon small to medium native tree, kin to the familiar European smoketree but bolder in leaf and rarer in gardens. The common name comes from the fruiting stage, when the loose, fuzzy flower panicles blur the whole crown into a soft haze of smoke. The broad, oval, blue-green leaves are noticeably larger than those of the European Cotinus coggygria, and they close the year in a spectacular blaze of orange, yellow, and red-purple, some of the finest fall color of any native tree.

In the wild the American smoketree turns up in widely scattered pockets, usually on limestone, from eastern Tennessee to central Texas, which points to the tree's real preferences: sharp drainage and a tolerance, even a liking, for sweet, alkaline soil. Give well-drained ground, a touch of lime where soils are acid, and full sun for the strongest fall color. The tree is often smaller and shrubbier in cultivation than in the wild, and the scaly, characterful bark adds winter interest.

Site the American smoketree as a specimen where the smoke and the fall color can both be enjoyed, in a lawn, a mixed border, or a dry, sunny bank, and pair with other tough, well-drained-soil natives. A handsome, drought-tolerant, and increasingly hard-to-find tree for the collector of native woody plants.