4 oo 



CLEMATIS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



CLEMATIS. 



various parts of Spain, and is found also 

 in Algiers and on the mountains of N. 

 Africa. The flowers are dull white or 

 cream-coloured, downy outside, smooth 

 within, and about i inches in diameter. 

 In S. Europe it climbs over big trees, but 

 it grows only some 8 or 10 feet high in 

 these colder latitudes. 



C. COCCINEA (Scarlet C.). A distinct 

 species, some 6 to 10 feet high, the flowers 

 varying in colour from rosy carmine to 

 scarlet ; they are swollen at the base, but 

 narrow towards the top. A larger- 

 flowered variety is known as major, and 

 various hybrids have been raised by 

 crossing this and other species. N. 

 America. 



C. CRISPA (Frilled C.). A distinct and 

 good kind. The colour is purple margined 

 with white, or in some forms pale lilac. 

 The flowers are fragrant and appear in 

 June, continuing up to autumn. Some 

 of the forms are bright in colour and 

 pretty, but others are amongst the least 

 effective of the shrubby Clematis, the 

 thick, heavy sepals being of a dull purple. 

 N. America. 



C. FLAMMULA (Fragrant Virgin's Bower). 

 A vigorous grower, its leaves are of a 

 rich dark green and remain fresh till well 

 into the winter. The flowers are small 

 (half-inch to three-quarters of an inch 

 across), and appear in late summer and 

 autumn ; fragrant, creamy-white, the 

 fruit white and feathery. This species is 

 variable in the size and shape of the 

 leaflets and in the flower panicles, some 

 of which are large with numerous blos- 

 soms, whilst in other forms the panicles 

 are few-flowered and scarcely branched. 



C. FLORIDA (var. bicolor}. The type 

 C. florida is a native of China and has been 

 long known in European gardens. It is 

 allied to C. patens, and, like that species, 

 produces its flowers earlier than the 

 lanuginosa varieties, for the blossoms 

 appear from ripened wood of the previous 

 year, and are usually at their best in June. 

 As a rule, the flowers are whitish with 

 dark stamens in the forms that closely 

 resemble the type, but in the variety 

 bicolor the flowers are doubled, the outer 

 part being white and the inner part purple. 

 As the expanded blossoms are each at 

 least 4 inches across, the beauty of a well- 

 flowered plant may be imagined. The 

 variety bicolor is said to have been intro- 

 duced from Japan about seventy-five 

 years ago. 



C. GRATA (Indian Virgin's Bower). A 

 free, much-branched Indian climber, grow- 

 ing from 12 to 15 feet high, with hairy 

 stems and leaves, flowering freely with me 

 on pergola or over bushes. It is a very 

 good kind, flowering late when few 

 climbers are in bloom. 



C. HERACLE^FOLIA (David's Virgin's 

 Bower). A dwarf, sturdy plant under 



2 feet high, with large leaves and short 

 stalked corymbs of flowers of a hyacinthirn 

 shape and purplish-blue colour. Mud 

 superior to it as a garden plant is th< 

 variety Davidiana, which often ranks as < 

 species. Its stems are about 4 feet long 

 but are rarely strong enough to stand erec 

 without support. The largest leaflet 

 often measure 6 inches in length by nearb 

 as much in width. The bright lavender 



Clematis lanuginosa alba growing through Azara. 



blue flowers are in dense heads, borne on 

 long stalks in early autumn. N. China. 



C. LANUGINOSA (Great-flowered Virgin's 

 Bower). A noble Chinese species 5 or 6 

 feet high, the leaves covered beneath with 

 greyish wool, the flowers the largest of 

 any of the wild kinds, 6 inches across, and 

 the sepals flat and overlapping and of a 

 pale lavender colour. It is to this species 

 more than to any other that the beauty of 

 the garden hybrids of Clematis is due. Its 

 flowers range in colour from pure white to 

 deep rich purple, and appear from July to 

 October. 



C. MONTANA (White Virgin's Bower). 

 One of the most beautiful kinds, and when 

 covered with its white flowers during May, 

 one of the most attractive of all hardy 



