Ever since I moved to my current city almost 4 years ago, I've made a list of sorts of all the plants I see that intrigue me. I learn a lot about a new territory just by studying the plant life. The feature today is: the American/European/Eurasian Smoketree, aka. Cotinus coggygria.
I've seen these freaky guys sporting alien fluffball "blooms" in shades ranging from Spring green to blood-of-thy-enemies maroon, with foliage to match. Leaves are more round than ovate, and the first time I saw them, I decided they resembled young eucalyptus leaves, with the exception that eucalyptus leaves tend to have pinnate venation (what we think of when we envision leaf veins), and these funky weirdos have arcuate venation (a distinctive, ladder-like arrangement of veins). To be honest, I don't know how rare that is in plants, but I haven't seen many sporting it.
My favorite part? The fact that the individual fibers of the fluffball sometimes put on tiny fruits. Just when you think a plant can't get any stranger, God says, "Buckle up, buttercup!"
I love it. 🌿
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