232 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



TART III. 



includes the ligneous genera, Xanthorhiza and P&onia, which even a super- 

 ficial observer may recognise as differing, in habit and appearance, from the 

 genera Clematis and Jtragene, which are slender-stemmed climbers, while the 

 others are herbaceous-looking undershrubs. 



Sect. I, CLEMATI'DEJE. 



THESE are climbers, characterised by having the aestivation of the calyx 

 valvate or induplicate ; with no petals, or with the petals flat ; the anther 

 opening outwards ; the carpels, or seed-vessels, not opening ; one-seeded, 

 terminated by a tail, which is the indurated style. Seed pendulous. Leaves 

 opposite. Deciduous and evergreen climbers. The genera are two ; Clematis 

 and Jtragene, which are thus contradistinguished : 

 CLE'MATIS L. Petals none. 

 ^TRAGE V NE L. Petals several. 



GENUS I. 



J 



l 



CLE'MATIS L. THE CLEMATIS, or VIRGIN'S BOWER. Lin. Sy&t. Poly- 

 andria Polygynia. 



Identification. The word Klematis is said by Donnegan to have been used by Theophrastus, cap. 5. 10., 

 as well as /Itragene, to designate the Cldmatis Vitalba of Linnaeus. Clematis was used by Matthiolus, 

 and also by Clusius, who applied it to C. Viticella L. and C. cirrhosa L. It has been since generally 

 applied to this family of plants by botanists. 



Symntymcs. Ladies' Bower Gerard ; Clematite, Fr. ; Waldrebe, Ger. ; Clematide, Ital. 



Derivations. The word Clematis, or Klematis, is derived from the Greek word kliima. a small 



ib like 



branch of a vine ; and it is applied to this genus, because most of the plants composing it clim 

 a vine. The English name of Ladies' Bower was probably adopted from its suitableness for cov 

 bowers; and, as the first kind of clematis brought to England (C. Viticella) was introduc 

 156!), during the reign of Elizabeth, the name of Virgin's Bower might be intended to convey a 



The 



compliment to that sovereign, who, as it is well known, liked to be called the Virgin Queen. 

 German name, Waldrebe, is compounded ofwald, a wood, and rebc, the branch of a vine 



Generic Character. Involucre none, or situated under the flower, in the form of 

 a calyx. Calyx of from four to eight coloured sepals. Petals none. Car- 

 pels numerous, aggregate, terminated by a long, and mostly feathery, tail. 

 Climbing shrubs, with variously cut opposite leaves. The recent herb of all 

 the species is acrid, and, when applied to the skin, it occasions blisters. 

 (Don's Mill., i. p. 3.) The seed is pendulous, and the carpels are one- 

 seeded ; each is terminated by a persistent style, and does not open until rup- 

 tured by the germination of the seed. 



Description, $c. Root strong ; the fibres rather straight, and not very much 

 branched; extended in the soil rather horizontally than perpendicularly. 

 Stem ligneous, not rigid enough to stand erect. Branches the same, and 

 slender. Leaves in decussating pairs ; the petiole possessed of a clasping 

 power, the effect of which is the prehension of contiguous plants and objects. 

 The rate of growth in C. Vitalba and C. Flammula is among the most rapid 

 known in the plants of temperate climates, particularly in the shoots which a 

 well-established vigorous plant throws up, after it has been cut down to the 

 ground. The most ornamental species are C. Viticella and C. florida; the 

 most rapidly growing for covering bowers is C. Vitalba. The kind most fragrant 

 in its flowers is C. Flammula. 



Geography, History, Uses, Sec. Most of the hardy species of Clematis are 

 natives of the middle and south of Europe, and of North America ; a few of 

 them are natives of the north of Africa, some of Siberia ; there are several in 

 the Himalaya, one in China, and several in Japan. The genus has been known 

 since the days of Theophrastus, and has received various accessions from the 



