EURASIAN SMOKETREE, SMOKEBUSH - COTINUS COGGYGRIA SEEDS - IN SOUTH AFRICA

Cotinus is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, closely related to the sumacs (Rhus). They are commonly known as Smoketree or Smoke bush. They are large shrubs or small trees, native to the warm temperate northern hemisphere. The leaves are deciduous, alternate, simple oval shape, 3–13 cm long. The flowers are clustered in large open terminal panicles 15–30 cm long with a fluffy grayish-buff appearance resembling a cloud of smoke over the plant, from which the name derives. The fruit is a small drupe with a single seed. Often classified in Rhus in the past, they are distinguished by the leaves being simple (not pinnate) and the 'smoke-like' fluffy flower heads. The smoke trees, particularly C. coggygria, are popular garden shrubs.           Cotinus coggygria syn. Rhus cotinus commonly known as Eurasian Smoketree, Smoke Tree, or Smoke Bush is a species of flowering plant 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 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 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.