Scientific Name
Cotinus coggygria x obovatus ‘Grace’
Many people are familiar with the European smoketree (Cotinus coggygria), a decorative large shrub that produces copious, puffy pink flower structures during the summer and is often sold as a cultivar with reddish purple foliage. Sometimes these plants even reach tree size, but more often they remain lower with multiple stems. The popularity of these smoketrees and their numerous cultivars has overshadowed the existence of the only other plant in its genus, the American smoketree (Cotinus obovatus). This is unfortunate because the American species is a viable tree for our region and has similar ornamental attributes. While we wait in 2026 for one of them in the Regis tree nursery to grow large enough for planting on campus, we obtained an example of the hybrid between the two species, named ‘Grace,’ which was first developed by the famed Arnold Arboretum in Boston.
American smoketree has a very limited native range, including scattered parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri and Texas, though it is not considered endangered. It has oval, bluish-green leaves that are widest toward the tip, and the tree can grow to around 30 feet tall. The male and female flowers are borne on separate trees and produce the 6 to 10 inch long “smoke” puffs. The bark develops an attractive, finely textured, scaly appearance. Fall color can be bright gold but is more often an intense red.
The hybrid ‘Grace’ at Claver Hall is currently showing the expected intermediate characteristics: it is multi-stemmed but exhibits strong upright growth, and its burgundy foliage has turned brilliant red in fall. We anticipate that this plant will mature at around 20 feet tall.