WILD CLEMATIS (Clematis ligiLsticifdlia, Nutt.). 

 woody vine, clambering over rocks, shrubs, and trees. 



A 



The 



creamy white blossoms in many-flowered panicles, are all 

 sepals, which are colored like petals and are hardly more con- 

 spicuous than the feathery long-tailed seed-heads that suc- 

 ceed them. It blooms from May until July, and is widely 

 distributed in California and Oregon, and eastward to New 

 Mexico. Its preference is for the lower mountain regions, 

 rarely getting above 4,000 feet elevation. The hard specific 

 name means "with leaves like Ligusticum," an umbelliferous 

 genus of which the potherb Scotch Lovage is a member. Be- 

 sides the common name Wild Clematis, that of Virgin's Bower, 

 the usual Cld World name for a kindred species, is in use. 

 In Northern California the plant is sometimes called Pepper 

 Vine from the peppery taste of stem and leaves if chewed, as 

 they sometimes are, for sore throat. 



Similar in appearance and habit, and more showy, is the 

 nearly related Clematis lasiantha, Nutt., common in the chap- 

 arral belts of Southern and Central California. The flowers 

 of C. lasiantha although apparently bunched, are really solitary 

 on long footstalks. The flowers of both are dioecious. 



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