DESCKII»TIVE LLST OF FLOWKES. 163 



varieties, when grown in large masses, are hignly onia- 

 mental. The varieties of C. elef/ans are tliose with purple 

 and rose-colored flowers ; also, double-pui-ple, rose, flesh 

 color and white. It is sometimes called C. rosea. 



C. rhomboidea. — Entire petaled, or C.gauroides. — This 

 is also an annual, growing about two feet high. The flow- 

 ers are an inch across, purple and white, near the bottom 

 of each petal, spotted with white. All the varieties are 

 fine for bouquets, as the foliage, as well as the flowers, is 

 delicate and pretty. 



CLEMATIS.— ViEGLs's Bower. 



[From the Greek, for tendril ; in allusion to the climbing habits of most of 

 the species.] 



The species are mostly climbing shrubs, or herbaceous 

 perennials, of rapid growth, free bloomers, very ornamen- 

 tal, and some ai-e highly odoriferous. 



Clematis Virginiana is a native plant, well known as a 

 great climber, growing profusely upon the banks of our 

 rivers and wet places ; taking possession and covering all 

 the shrubs in its neighborhood, to which it attaches itself 

 by its petioles, (which are given ofi", at intervals, in pairs,) 

 twining round objects for support, and seiwing the pur- 

 pose of tendrils. The flowers are white, borne in cymes, 

 and make a handsome appearance the beginning of August. 

 The most remarkable appearance of this plant is when in 

 fruit ; the long feathery tails of the fruits separating like 

 tufts of wool. It grows twenty feet or more in a season, 

 most of the stem perishes, leaving but a small shrubby 

 portion. It makes an appropriate covering for an arbor 

 or wall ; for, whether in flower or fruit, it is ornamental. 



C. erecta is strictly an herbaceous plant, growing from 

 three to four feet high, producing large clusters of white 



