CLEMATIS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



CLEMATIS. 489 



C. paniculata. (Japanese Virgin's 

 Bower). A vigorous climber, growing to 

 a height of 30 ft. or more. The flowers 

 have a hawthorn-like fragrance, the four 

 sepals being of a rather dull white. It is 

 hardy in Britain and flowers during 

 September, but with nothing like the 

 profusion that makes it so beautiful a 

 climber in America. By planting it 

 against a sunny wall its best qualities 

 would perhaps be brought out. 



C. patens. Next to C. lanuginosa, 

 this is perhaps the most important of the 

 wild types of Clematis. It is a native of 

 Japan (having been found on the isle of 

 Nippon), and possibly of China also. It 

 was introduced about sixty years ago by 

 Siebold, who obtained it in the gardens 

 near Yokohama, where it had, no doubt, 

 been long in cultivation. The sepals are 

 from six to eight in number, narrow in 

 the form originally introduced, and of a 

 delicate mauve colour, but the varieties 

 subsequently obtained from it under cul- 

 tivation have flowers much larger, the 

 colours varying from white to deep violet 

 and blue. Its value as one of the parent 

 species of the garden Clematis is due not 

 only to its beauty, but more especially to 

 its flowering as early as May and June. 



C. Pitcher!. The flowers of this are 

 pitcher-shaped, being broad and swollen at 

 the base, narrow at the centre where the 

 sepals press closely round the bunch of 

 stamens, but have the tips expanded and 

 recurved. They are I in. long and three- 

 quarters of an in. wide at the swollen 

 base, of a purplish blue outside, and in 

 the typical form the recurved tips of the 

 sepals are yellowish. The fruits are of 

 a reddish purple colour (Colorado and 

 Western America). 



In the variety lasiostylis the sepals 

 have but little of the yellow colour seen 

 in the type, the recurved portion of the 

 sepals being of a deep purplish blue. 

 The fruits, too, are larger and of a richer 

 red colour. 



C. recta (White Herbaceous Virgin's 

 Bower}. This is one of the best 

 herbaceous species, its tufted stems 

 growing about 3 ft. high and producing 

 from June to August numerous white 

 flowers sweetly scented, and each about 

 i in. across. A handsome double- 

 flowered variety, and in its own country 

 the plant varies much (S. Europe). 



C. Robertsiana (Roberts Virgin's 

 Bower). The nodding flowers of this 

 are of a pale lemon-yellow, and are 3 to 

 5 ins. in diameter. The flowers have 

 none of the petals or antherless stamin- 

 odes of the Atragene group, but otherwise, 



both in flower and foliage, the species 

 bears a resemblance to the Alpine Cle- 

 matis. 



C. stans. An herbaceous plant, grow- 

 ing 4 or 5 ft. high, with dark green leaves; 

 the flowers are not borne in such dense 

 heads as in L'Abbe David's Clematis, 

 but often in a large terminal panicle, 



Clematis Lady Caroline Nevill. 



frequently also in clusters close in the 

 leaf axils. In early autumn each flower 

 is about three-quarters of an inch long,, 

 pale blue, and of the hyacinth-like form 

 common to this group of Clematis (Japan). 



C. verticillaris (Atragene ameri- 

 cana\ A climber with woody stems 8 to 

 10 ft. high or more. The flowers bluish 

 purple and from 2 to 3 ins. in diameter 

 (N. America). 



C. Viorna (the Leather Flower}. Al- 

 though this is one of the oldest of the 

 American Clematises in cultivation 

 (having been introduced in 1730), it is not 

 a common plant, being, indeed, one of the 

 least attractive in the genus. It is not 



