What is "cotinus obovatus"

chittamwood \chittamwood\ n.

1. a shrubby tree of the U. S. Pacific coast ( Rhamnus purshianus or Rhamnus purshiana), whose bark is the cascara sagrada, used as a mild cathartic or laxative.

   Syn: cascara, cascara buckthorn, bearberry, bearwood, chittimwood, Rhamnus purshianus.

2. a deciduous tree of SE U.S. and Mexico.

   Syn: false buckthorn, chittimwood, shittimwood, black haw, Bumelia lanuginosa.

3. a shrubby tree of southern U.S. ( Cotinus obovatus) having large plumes of feathery flowers resembling puffs of smoke; -- called also American smoke tree.

   Syn: American smokewood, Cotinus americanus, Cotinus obovatus.

Cotinus obovatus syn. C. americanus, the American smoketree, chittamwood or American smokewood, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Cotinus of the family Anacardiaceae, native to the southeastern USA. It is a deciduous, conical shrub growing to tall by broad, with oval leaves up to long. It produces panicles of pink-grey flowers in summer, and its foliage turns a brilliant scarlet in autumn (fall). The smokey effect derives from the clusters of hairs on the spent flower stalks. It is cultivated in gardens and parks in temperate regions.

The Latin specific epithet obovatus means "in the shape of an inverted egg", and refers to the broadly oval shape of the leaves.