352 CLEMATIS 



and N. America. A New Zealand species, C. indivisa, one of the most 

 beautiful of them all, is sometimes cultivated on walls in mild districts, 

 but it is, strictly speaking, a greenhouse plant. 



In habit, clematises vary from dwarf, herbaceous plants to woody 

 climbers up to 60 or more feet high. The leaves are always in pairs at 

 each joint, and are occasionally simple, but usually divided, consisting 

 of the three, five, seven, nine, or perhaps fifteen leaflets. The climbing 

 species support themselves by means of the leaf-stalks, which curl round 

 any slender support available. In the absence of any such support they 

 fasten on to each other, making an inextricable tangle. Whilst the 

 clematises when in flower provide some of the most beautiful effects 

 possible in gardens excepting roses, they are our most extensive group 

 of flowering climbers the autumn and early winter effect is often 

 deplorable. The leaves of many species do not fall off in autumn, but 

 remain through much of the early winter black and unsightly. Nor are 

 the early stages of decay enlivened by any bright colour. 



Clematis belongs to the buttercup family, but is an anomalous member 

 thereof, owing to the flowers having no petals. The showy, petal-like 

 organs, usually four but up to eight in number, which give the flowers 

 their chief decorative value, are sepals. There is one section of the 

 genus, the ATRAGENE group, sometimes kept up as a separate genus 

 which have, between the sepals and stamens, one or more rows of petal- 

 like organs which may be regarded as either petals or enlarged abortive 

 stamens. There is considerable variation in the form of Clematis 

 blossoms. In the most popular forms, represented so abundantly in 

 gardens by varieties and hybrids of C. patens, florida, and lanuginosa, also 

 by species like montana and orientalis, the sepals spread out nearly or 

 quite to their full extent. In another group, of which C. Viorna is the 

 type, the sepals form a pitcher-shaped flower ; that is, they are connivent 

 at the margins, so that the flower is rounded and swollen at the base, 

 but narrows to a contracted mouth. In the Vitalba group, the flowers 

 are small, very numerous, and produced in panicles. 



The seed-vessel, popularly known as the " seed," and to botanists as 

 the " achene," is terminated by the persistent style, which in many species 

 is from i to 2 ins. long, and clothed with long silky hairs, so that a plant 

 in full fruit is often a striking object. The juice of several species is 

 acrid, and has an inflammatory effect on the skin. 



CULTIVATION. The natural habitat of the climbing sorts is mostly 

 among small trees and shrubs, over which they run. The flowering 

 portions of the plant are therefore exposed to full sunshine, whilst the 

 main stem and lower parts of the plant are often in shade; this is a 

 point that should not be overlooked in the cultivation of the more delicate 

 species on posts and pillars. In such positions it is advisable to place the 

 plant with its base on the northern side of its support. Otherwise, the 

 plants delight in full sunshine. 



They all like an open, loamy, moist soil, and the stronger-growing ones 

 should have an occasional top-dressing of rotted manure. The Clematis is 

 essentially a plant of calcareous regions, and whilst many species thrive 

 quite well in garden soil from which lime is absent, it is in such cases 



