Hoyt Arboretum, Portland, Oregon, USA

Common name: American Smoke Tree

Family: Anacardiaceae

Distribution: Southern United States

Habitat: Rocky, mountainous soils in mixed forest

IUCN Red list: Least concern

Hardiness: Zone 4b -25 to -20 F

Life form: Deciduous tree

Usage: Ornamental shade tree

Comments: American smoke tree is native to rocky, usually mountain soils from Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, and northern Alabama west to Oklahoma, and is well-suited to the Pacific Northwest. The drought-tolerant shrub can grow to 20-30’ tall and 15-25’ wide. Its range of fall color includes red, pink, orange, and yellow. Smoketree gets its common name not from the 6-10" flower clusters, tiny, insignificant, dioecious, yellowish-green flowers which bloom in June, but from the billowy hairs attached to elongated stalks on the spent flower clusters, which turn a smoky pink to purplish pink in summer, thus covering the tree with fluffy, hazy, smoke-like puffs.

Look nearby for the interesting hybrid cultivars ‘Grace’ and ‘Golden Spirit.’ Which are hybrids produced by crossing C. obovatus with C. coggygria, the Chinese smoke tree.

This is one of the highlight plants for fall color, it consistently has the brightest and best range of color.
Best grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soil in full sun. Adaptable to wide range of soils, including poor rocky soils, but prefers well-drained, somewhat infertile loams.