PLATE 1.—-CLEMATIS INDIVISA. 
Famity RANUNCULACE.. |] [Genus CLEMATIS, Linn. 
Clematis indivisa, Willd. Sp. Plant. ii, 1291; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i, 6; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. 
Fl. 2. 
Iv is somewhat remarkable that no adequate representation of this beautiful plant 
has appeared in any standard botanical work. The only plate I am acquainted with 
was given many years ago in the Botanical Magazme (t. 4398); but it delineates a 
decidedly uncommon form with lobed leaflets, and can hardly be considered as 
illustrating the typical state of the plant. 
The first recorded specimens of Clematis indivisa were collected in 1773 by 
Forster in Queen Charlotte Sound durig Cook’s second voyage. The name of 
C. integrifolia, under which Forster described the plant in his “ Prodromus,” had 
already been applied to a species from the Northern Hemisphere ; so that Willdenow, 
in the “Species Plantarum,” suggested the equivalent name of C. indivisa in its 
place. Under this title it has appeared in all enumerations of New Zealand plants 
up to the present time. From Forster’s time onwards, too, it has been observed by 
all botanists and explorers, and is now known to be generally distributed in lowland 
districts from the North Cape to Stewart Island, usually in bushy places on the 
outskirts of forests, &c. Its altitudinal range is from sea-level to quite 2,500 ft. 
The large starlike white flowers, which are produced in Immense abundance, 
render this an exceedingly beautiful plant, and im early spring its masses of bloom, 
looped from branch to branch, often whiten the trees in light forest or in tall Lepto- 
spermum scrub. According to Mr. Elsdon Best (Trans. N.Z. Inst. xl (1908) 210), the 
Urewera Maoris consider that C. indivisa is one of the three first-born children of 
Rehua (the star Antares), and Puanga (the star Rigel in Orion), the duty of the three 
children being to indicate, by means of their blossoms, the coming of the warmth of 
spring. The Maori name of the plant, Puawananga, has been translated, whether 
correctly or not I do not know, as the “sacred flower.” In the Urewera district, 
according to Mr. Elsdon Best, the name is spelled Poananga, and is applied to the 
flowers alone, the stem or entire plant being called Pikiarero. 
Like many other New Zealand plants, C. indivisa frequently has juvenile foliage 
very different in shape to that of the adult plant, the leaflets beg narrow-linear, and 
sometimes lobed at the base. In an older stage the leaflets are broader, but often 
deeply toothed or lobulate; while when fully mature they are either quite entire or 
obscurely lobed or sinuate. I much regret that from want of space on the plate I 
have been unable to figure these curious transitional stages. The mode of climbing 
of this and many other species of Clematis, through the agency of their highly 
sensitive petioles, which coil around any twig with which they may be brought into 
contact, has often been described, and need not be further alluded to here. 
C. indivisa does well in cultivation, and if planted in rich loamy soil with good 
drainage grows rapidly and soon covers a trellis or any other kind of support. — It is 
also effective on rockwork, although its near ally, C. fetida, is perhaps better adapted 
for such a situation. 
Prate 1. Clematis indivisa, drawn from specimens collected in the vicinity of Auckland. 
A, male inflorescencé; B, female flower. Figs. 1 and 2, stamens (x5); 3, carpel from flower 
(enlarged) ; 4, carpel from fruit (enlarged). 
