shrub

Smoke bush

Cotinus coggygria

Climate-suitable non-native

Growing guidance

Horticultural figures below are practitioner estimates for planning, pending expert review. The botanical record further down is sourced and verifiable.

Current-climate suitability

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Future-climate resilience

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Sun

Full sun

Soil moisture

free-draining, average

Heat tolerance

Up to about 44°C

Cold tolerance

Down to about -25°C

Waterlogging tolerance

1/5

Drought tolerance

5/5

Mature size

2–4 m tall, 3 m spread

Seasonal interest

Summer haze, autumn colour · Smoky pink

Maintenance

low

Wildlife supported

General wildlife value 2/5 (verified species relationships are shown only where structured data exists)

Known risks or warnings

Rich damp soil produces soft growth and poor colour.

Toxicity: none

Verified botanical record

Accepted scientific name: Cotinus coggygria Scop.
Family: Anacardiaceae (Sapindales)
Rank and status: species · accepted
GBIF record: Taxon 3190522

Recorded as introduced in: Belgium, Brussels-Capital Region, Connecticut, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Flemish Region, France, Germany, Great Britain, Illinois, Indiana, Korea and 16 further regions

Ranges are exactly as recorded in the GBIF source checklists and may be incomplete for widely cultivated species.

Cotinus coggygria, syn. Rhus cotinus, the European smoketree, Eurasian smoketree, smoke tree, smoke bush, Venetian sumach, or dyer's sumach, is a Eurasian species of flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae.

Description from Wikipedia — Cotinus coggygria (CC BY-SA), shortened and unedited in substance.

Native status and geographic context

United Kingdom: climate-suitable
United States: climate-suitable
Australia: climate-suitable

Native status is never inferred from climate similarity. Plants restricted or invasive in a jurisdiction are excluded from recommendations there.

Alexander Dunkel · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Where to buy

Real retailers serving UK. Garden Forward publishes no prices of its own — each link opens the retailer's own search results, where their current price and stock are shown.

Search Sarah Raven for Cotinus coggygria
Perennials, bulbs and seed, delivered across the UK.
Search Farmer Gracy for Cotinus coggygria
Bulbs and perennials shipped direct from Dutch growers.
Search Ashridge Nurseries for Cotinus coggygria
Bare-root trees, hedging and fruit in the dormant season.
Search Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants for Cotinus coggygria
Specialist hardy perennial nursery.
Search Marshalls Garden for Cotinus coggygria
Fruit, vegetable plants and seed.

No affiliate relationship is in place with these retailers, so nothing here earns Garden Forward a commission. Search links checked 2026-09-17. Availability of a species is never a reason it is recommended.

Companion palettes

Not currently in a sample palette.

Climate-resilient alternatives

Data sources

Taxonomy and native range: GBIF Backbone Taxonomy
Species description: Wikipedia — Cotinus coggygria
Photograph: Alexander Dunkel · Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Growing guidance: Practitioner horticultural estimates pending expert review

Botanical record checked 2026-09-17 · growing guidance last reviewed 2026-06-01 · confidence high

Demonstration data. Climate, plant and retailer records shown here are realistic samples awaiting horticultural validation and live data connections.