FLOWERING PLANTS. 3 
Common in hedges and among bushes, especially on a calcareous 
soil in the South of England, extending northward to South Wales 
and Yorkshire. It also occurs in the North of England, Scotland, 
and Ireland, but only in places where it has doubtless been intro- 
duced. 
England [Scotland, Ireland]. Shrub. Summer and Autumn. 
A small shrub with tough trailing or climbing branches, sup- 
porting themselves by means of the petioles, which, below the 
leaflets twine round adjacent bodies, and remain after the fall of the 
leaves. Leaves opposite, with about 5 stalked 38- to 5-nerved leaflets, 
the edges of which are generally coarsely serrated or even lobed, but 
oceasionally entire. Flowers in lax terminal or axillary panicles. 
Sepals and stamens greenish white. Carpels ovoid compressed, 
reddish brown, with long bent white feathery tails, about 13 inch 
long ; receptacle woolly. 
Common Traveller’s Joy, or Old Man's Beard. 
French, Clématite blanche. German, Steigende Waldrebe. 
The scientific name Clematis Vitalba is derived from «dja (Alena), a tendril, from 
the climbing nature of the species, and Vitis ulba, white vine. It is sometimes called 
Virgin’s Bower, which name was given to it by Gerarde in 1597, “by reason of the 
goodly shadowe which they make with their thick bushing and climing ; as also for 
the beautie of the flowers, and the pleasant savour or scent of the same.” This pretty 
plant is one of the greatest ornaments of our country hedges, with its copious clusters 
of white blossoms and succeeding heaps of feather-tailed silky tufts. In some places it 
is used as fodder for cattle, an acrid juice which the leaves contain whilst fresh, dis- 
appearing after drying. The branches are tough enough to make withes for faggots, 
for which purpose it is always used in woods where it can be procured. As a medi- 
cine, it has had some reputation internally as a remedy for dropsy, and in the form 
of an infusion for rheumatism. In France, the irritating and vesicatory properties 
of its juice are sometimes turned to account by beggars, who apply it to their skin to 
produce ulcers and excite compassion. In the same country the twigs are used to 
make beehives, baskets, &c.: they probably grow stronger in a warm climate. A section 
of Clematis wood forms a very interesting object under the microscope; the air-vessels 
and cells are arranged in a radiate manner, allowing the air to circulate freely through 
them. “This circumstance is turned to account by our village boys, who smoke pieces 
of the wood as they do of rattan cane; hence it is sometimes called smoke-wood and 
smoking-cane, 
Trinr I1.—ANEMONE A. 
Sepals imbricated. Carpels numerous, l-ovuled. Ovule pen- 
dulous, with the raphe dorsal. Achenes indehiscent. Stem herba- 
ceous. 
