Species
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Cotinus obovatus Raf.

American smoketree, American smoketree, chittamwood

Climate known 75 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Cotinus obovatus syn. C. americanus, the American smoketree, chittamwood or American smokewood, is a rare species of flowering plant in the genus Cotinus of the family Anacardiaceae, native to scattered locations in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Alabama and Tennessee. It is a deciduous, conical shrub growing to 10 m (33 ft) tall by 8 m (26 ft) broad, with oval leaves up to 12 cm (5 in) long. It produces panicles of pink-grey flowers in summer, and its foliage turns a brilliant scarlet in autumn; considered by many to be the most intense fall color of any tree. The smokey effect derives from the clusters of hairs on the spent flower stalks. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Cotinus obovatus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Cotinus

Cotinus, the smoketree or smoke bush, is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, closely related to the sumacs (Rhus).

Text from Wikipedia, “Cotinus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Anacardiaceae
Described by
Raf.
Native to
Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas +4
Wild records
553 in range· 114 open

At a glance

Warmest month
32°C
Jul, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1165mm/yr
12 wet months · peak May 119 mm (CHELSA)
Light
14–41DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to July and September to November in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1165 mm a year, wettest May at 119 mm, driest January at 76 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -11.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Cotinus americanus Nutt.; Cotinus cotinoides (Nutt. ex Chapm.) Britton; Cotinus retusus Raf.; Rhus americana Sudw.; Rhus cotinoides Nutt. and 3 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to July and September to November in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (838 mm of 1165 mm) takes 8 months, March to July and September to November. Mean temperature moves 23.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to January and March to May.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1165 mm a year, wettest May at 119 mm, driest January at 76 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1165 mm a year at the habitat, 838 mm of it March to July and September to November. Wettest month May at 119 mm, driest January at 76 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 920 mm to 1444 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -11.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -11.3 °C, the absolute minimum -23.0 °C, about 79 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -0.8 °C in January (across the envelope cells -2.0 °C to 5.5 °C), warmest day 31.9 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -11.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 59% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 8 °C in Jan to 32 °C in Jul; mean night from -1 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1165 mm of rain a year, most in May. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 187 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -23.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-40°-20°20°40°frost38.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)-23.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 14–41RH 56–59 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 187 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C8 / 7–1611 / 10–1816 / 15–2221 / 20–2625 / 24–2930 / 28–3132 / 30–3332 / 30–3328 / 26–3022 / 21–2515 / 14–209 / 8–16
Night °C-1 / -2–61 / -0–75 / 4–1010 / 9–1415 / 14–1820 / 19–2122 / 21–2322 / 21–2318 / 17–2012 / 11–156 / 5–111 / -0–6
Rain mm76 / 47–14479 / 52–148105 / 73–131109 / 64–119119 / 101–145110 / 91–12697 / 79–12685 / 59–10596 / 84–11494 / 81–113108 / 71–12987 / 52–148
DLI16 / 16–1921 / 20–2328 / 27–2935 / 34–3537 / 37–3841 / 39–4141 / 38–4338 / 35–4131 / 30–3324 / 23–2617 / 16–2014 / 14–17
RH %58 / 57–5957 / 57–5856 / 56–5756 / 55–5759 / 57–6159 / 58–6058 / 57–6158 / 56–6058 / 56–5957 / 56–5858 / 57–5959 / 58–60

Each figure is the median across the 187 grid cells holding the 471 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1081:1761 (35.925, -91.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -23.0 °C, 1st-percentile night -11.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 187 distinct grid cells holding the 471 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1081:1761 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 36.00_-91.875, lapse-corrected -36 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 177 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMissouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee· introduced: Kentucky
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker34.658, -86.413 · in the densest population, 474 records (86% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 553 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 114 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 516 km away. 90 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 82 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 553 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Cotinus obovatusCotinus obovatusCotinus obovatusCotinus obovatusCotinus obovatusCotinus obovatusCotinus obovatusCotinus obovatus

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Clifton Ladd, C.W.B., some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Nathan Aaron, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Reid Hardin, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Cotinus obovatus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Life history and host range of the leaf blotcherEucosmophora schinusivora: a candidate for biological control ofSchinus terebinthifoliusin the USA
Jorge Alberto Sánchez Rendón, M. Chawner, K. Dyer, Gregory S. Wheeler (2012) · Biocontrol Science and Technology
A New Leafmining Moth (Cameraria cotinivora, Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) of the American Smoketree (Cotinus obovatus)
Donald R. Davis, Gary R. Graves (2016) · Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington
American Smoketree (Cotinus obovatus Raf.), One of Oklahoma's Rarest Tree Species
Elbert L. Little (2015) · Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science
Datana perspicua (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae) Attacks Cotinus obovatus, a Native Woody Ornamental
Robert L. Crocker, Benny J. Simpson (1982) · Florida Entomologist
American Smoketree Cotinus obovatus Raf.
(2020) · University of Alabama Press eBooks
Winter Surveys of Cotinus obovatus (American smoketree) in the Ozark Mountains
Gary R. Graves (2018) · Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science
Cotinus obovatus Raf. (Smoke-tree) in Oklahoma
Bruce Hoagland (2004) · Oklahoma Native Plant Record
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Cotinus 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 47 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.