Cotinus coggygria

1. Cotinus coggygria Scop. (syn.: Rhus cotinus L.) (S-Eur., W-As.) – A very rare and probably always ephemeral escape from cultivation. Found in 1957 on the verge of an estate in Lustin and by a railway track in the port of Antwerpen (N-side of Churchilldok) in 2001, twice in the vicinity of planted specimens. In 2011 also recorded in coastal dunes (Noordduinen) in Koksijde (a single shrub, possibly a mere relic of cultivation?). Previously said to be naturalised by van Rompaey & Delvosalle (1978) but their single record is not located in Belgium.

Cotinus coggygria might increase in a near future as a result of more favourable climatological conditions. In parts of Germany it has been able to naturalise in thermophilous river valleys (Schlüter 1993, Klauck 2011).

 Cotinus coggygria, Koksijde, Noordduinen, coastal dunes, July 2011, F. Verloove

Herbarium specimen

Selected literature:

Klauck E.-J. (2011) Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Cotinus coggygria-Gebüsche. Mainzer naturwiss. Archiv 48: 249-258.

Schlüter H. (1993) Zur Einbürgerung des Perückenstrauches (Cotinus coggygria Scop.) an einem xerothermen Muschelkalkhang bei Jena in Thüringen. Phytocoenologia 23: 637-650.

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith