smoke tree
• noun
Any of the deciduous shrubs or small trees of the genus Cotinus in the cashew family Anacardiaceae, native to Eurasia and North America, cultivated as an ornamental plant for its large, airy panicles of tiny yellowish flowers whose elongated, feathery pink or purplish stalks create a billowy, smoke-like appearance after blooming.
"The garden border was anchored by a purple-leaved smoke tree, whose billowy pink flower plumes glowed in the late afternoon sun."
North American A spiny, intricately branched desert shrub or small tree (Psorothamnus spinosus) of the legume family Fabaceae, native to the Sonoran and Mojave deserts of southwestern North America, characterized by pale ash-gray stems that give it the illusion of a puff of smoke from a distance and clusters of vivid violet-blue pea-like blossoms in late spring.
"Along the dry sandy wash in the Mojave Desert, a solitary smoke tree burst into vivid indigo bloom after the spring rains."
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