Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 



77 



The Clematis ( Ranunculaceae ) 



By Bertha M. Rice 



Gracefully, gayly, the wild Clem- 

 atis climbs and drapes and embow- 

 ers its lovely way among the wild 

 gardens of the Coast Range and 

 Sierra Nevada foothills, swinging 

 its gladsome sprays in careless 

 abandon from the low branches of 

 trees or tall shrubbery where it has 

 persistently entwined itself. Its 

 fleecy clusters of rich, creamy or 

 ecru-tinted flowers add a blithe- 

 some note to the landscape. I have 

 seen its velvety blossoms massed in 

 such splendid profusion over em- 

 bankments or underbrush as to 

 completely camouflage the more 

 humble growing things which had 

 enabled it to shoulder its way up to 

 the sunlight ; for this vine is not, in 

 the proper sense of the word, a 

 twining vine ; climbing far more 

 correctly defines its nature, which 

 it does in a curious fashion, by 

 means of its leaf stalks. The stems 

 put forth no tendrils ; the leaf peti- 

 oles do all the work. They coil 

 around twigs, branches, and what- 

 ever else offers a hold for their 

 resistless energy. 



Darwin, who studied the move- 

 ments of plants, was especially in- 

 terested in Clematis, because of its 

 sensitive nature. He made many 

 experiments with the vine. The 

 young shoots of the Clematis leaf- 

 stalks follow the course of the sun. 

 Darwin recorded that one such shoot revolved, describing a broad 

 oval, in five hours and thirty minutes, and another one in six hours 

 and twelve minutes. The leaves will fold over if rubbed on the 

 under side and then straighten out again in a few hours if there is 

 nothing to hold onto. A common name for the plant, in Kent, 

 England, was "crocodiles." 



All plants have their own peculiar ways of doing their life work, 

 and aside from their aesthetic qualities are deeply interesting to the 

 true plant lover for these reasons. Plants do not always adapt them- 

 selves with a good grace to their surroundings, but endeavor by 

 every means in their power to better their conditions in life ; and so 



CLEMATIS 



