Fam: Anacardiaceae
Spe.: Cotinus coggygria Mill.
Common name: Scotano, fog tree
Etymology: The generic name is the one attributed by Pliny to an Apennine shrub from which a purple dye was obtained; the specific name probably alludes to the cochineal, due to the bright red color of the leaves in autumn.
Description: it is a shrub that forms dense and "disordered" carpets even if it can appear in the form of a small tree with many branches.
The branches have greenish bark, which becomes gray with the passing of the years, quite smooth.
The leaves are alternate, with an entire margin, ovate and rounded at the apex and close to the apex of the branches. The leaf blade, thin and rigid, is dark green in spring, light green in summer, which then becomes yellow, orange, red in autumn before the leaves fall.
The flowers are small, yellow-green and inconspicuous; their appearance changes when in summer the inflorescence forms feathery and very branched, pyramidal bunches, which give the plant a singular and characteristic appearance.
The fruits are very small and shine with a brown-purple color that fades to gray, adorned with peduncles covered with soft feathery hairs, which has also given the plant the name of fog tree. The fruit contains substances with a toxic effect.
Its tenacious roots are made to cling to rocks, insinuate themselves in poor and calcareous soils.
Habitat: Mediterranean region, China and the southern United States.
Properties and uses: the leaves are rich in turpentine and tannin for which they were once used as an astringent and for tanning leather.
The bark is also used for dyeing.
Notes and Curiosities: C. coggygria plants are grown for their lively foliage that lasts from spring to autumn, and before falling the leaves will give a magnificent show by taking on shades of red and orange. In summer, they also produce soft clouds of tiny infructescences, hence the name "fog tree".
In the botanical garden of Villa Heller this species appears as a large shrub, or rather, we can say with the appearance of a real tree. We notice it especially near the area of the Japanese garden, around the koi carp pond. They give visitors large, pink feathery inflorescences, which resemble cotton candy in shape.