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American smoketree, Cotinus obovatus, is locally abundant, but it is otherwise considered one or the rarest trees in North America.  It is in the same family as poison ivy, Toxicodendron radicans, but does not cause any dermatitis.  The common smoketree, C. conggygria, is from Europe and Western Asia supposedly including the Holy Land and this has helped perpetuate other common name chittimwood, alternately spelled shittimwood, which is the name of the wood used to build the Ark of the Covenant although the exact species is uncertain, but believed instead to be an Acacia.  The common smoketree tends to be shrubby and has more cultivars such as a purple leaf form thus it is sold in the nursery trade more often.  A famous nurseryman rooted cuttings of American smoketree collected for from a powerline right of way crossing over a mountain until aerial spraying of herbicides was used to keep the area free of vegetation thus virtually eliminating one of the best sources.  The habitat is dry limestone rock where it is with found mixed eastern red-cedar, Juniperus virginiana, which includes nearly all of the upslope housing development in Huntsville, Alabama, where the residents either love it, hate it or, are oblivious to it.  This area also has the Alabama state champion, which is 47 feet tall, has a circumference of 57 inches, and an average limb spread of 26 feet.  The trees are often distorted and may have split trunks and/or persistent dead limbs.  The mature bark has a distinctive fish scale appearance.  The name smoketree refers to the flowers, which appear to be like puffs of smoke from a distance due to being so open and wispy.  This was one of the first trees I identified after having taken a dendrology class; another tree I saw for the first time a mile or two later on the same hike was mountain camellia, Stewartia ovata, which has a much different habitat.  An indication of the diversity of that area is that a population of Alabama snow wreath, Neviusia alabamensis, is near the American smoke trees while eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, is near the mountain camellias.  The distinguishing feature of American smoke tree is the egg shaped leaves that are widest above the middle.  The fall color is excellent and can include yellow, orange, red, and/or purple.  The wood has a golden yellow color, which resulted in a somewhat confusing vernacular name of yellowwood since it is also applied to a couple local other species in very different families, Cladrastis kentukea and Frangula caroliniana, since they share a common subclass.  The yellow wood was used to make a dye thus the trees were virtually harvested to extinction around the time of the Civil War, otherwise we would probably have the national champion.  It is possible that the dye was used on the trimmings of Confederate uniforms from Alabama, which contributed to the yellowhammer nickname they were given.  Interestingly the national champion American smoketree is the only national champion tree that has ever been transplanted as a national champion and it is now located on the campus of Purdue University while a co-champion in Ohio was lost when a high school expanded.  I once asked where I could see an American smoke tree and Monte Sano State Park, but was told that the location was kept secret due to their rarity, which probably explains why so many of them are regularly cut back to keep the mountain bike trails clear.  I grew a few from seed and the one that got established has several flushes of rapid indeterminate growth per year, making pruning for form an effort in futility, but the other two respectively succumbed to a neighbors dog and herbicide overspray.