smoke tree

noun

1. greyish-green shrub of desert regions of southwestern United States and Mexico having sparse foliage and terminal spikes of bluish violet flowers; locally important as source of a light-colored honey of excellent flavor

• Syn: ↑Dalea spinosa

• Hypernyms: ↑shrub, ↑bush

• Member Holonyms: ↑Dalea, ↑genus Dalea

2. any of several shrubs or shrubby trees of the genus Cotinus

• Syn: ↑smoke bush

• Hypernyms: ↑shrub, ↑bush

• Hyponyms:

↑American smokewood, ↑chittamwood, ↑Cotinus americanus, ↑Cotinus obovatus, ↑Venetian sumac, ↑wig tree, ↑Cotinus coggygria

• Member Holonyms: ↑Cotinus, ↑genus Cotinus

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noun

1. : either of two small shrubby plants of the genus Cotinus having large panicles of flowers on plumose pedicels that resemble a cloud of smoke:

a. : an Old World shrub (C. coggygria) — called also Venetian sumac

b. : an American shrub or shrubby tree (C. obovatus) — called also chittamwood

2. : a spiny grayish green leguminous shrub (Dalea spinosa) of desert areas of the southwestern United States and Mexico that has very sparse foliage and terminal spikes of bluish violet flowers and that is a locally important honey plant yielding a light-colored honey of excellent flavor

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1. Also called American smoke tree, chittamwood. a tree, Cotinus obovatus, of the cashew family, native to the southeastern U.S., having egg-shaped leaves and large clusters of small white flowers.

2. Also called Venetian sumac. a related shrub, C. coggygria, of Eurasia, having elliptical leaves and clusters of hairy, purple flowers.

[1840-50]

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smoke bush or smoke tree noun

A sumach with light feathery or cloudlike panicles

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Main Entry: ↑smoke

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smoke tree see ↑smoke bush above.

• • •

Main Entry: ↑smoke

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smoke tree,

a small tree or shrub of the cashew family, with flower clusters that look somewhat like tiny puffs of smoke; feather tree. It is related to the sumac.

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n. a shrub or small tree of the cashew family that bears long feathery plumes of flowers, giving it a smoky appearance. ● Genus Cotinus, family Anacardiaceae: two species, the European C. coggygria, grown in North America as an ornamental, and the rare American C. obovatus