0227 



CLEMATIS 



Family: RANUNCULACEAE. 



Reproductive system: POLYANDRY, POLYGYNY. 



There are more than thirty species of clematis. Seven or eight of them grow wild 

 in France or have been acclimatized in our gardens. The stem of the blue clematis, 

 Clematis viticella, LINN., is a slender, climbing, branching vine. The compound leaves 

 consist of several oval-pointed entire leaflets, sometimes with one or two lobes. The 

 corolla of the blue-purple flower has four petals. There are a large number of stamens. 

 The ovaries turn into as many flattened seeds and join to form a fruit that lacks the tuft or 

 silky fibers found in the other species. 



The fern-leaved clematis, Clematis calycina, HORT. K. [Translator *s note: now C. 

 balearica\ blooms during part of the winter if it's planted where it's sheltered from the 

 north wind. It originated in Mahon [Translator's note: a harbor town on the Balearic 

 island of Minorca]. The stem is made up of vines that climb up over six feet; they have 

 opposite leaves composed of laciniate leaflets. The corolla, with an involucre, has four 

 yellowish oblong elliptical petals. The seeds have silvery silky fibers on them. 



The traveler' s-joy, or viburnum, beggar's plant [Translator 's note: the latter two 

 common names also refer to plants of a different genus], Clematis vitalba, LINN., has a 

 crooked stem and puts out vine-shoots three feet long. The leaves are opposite, winged, 

 and consist of three heart-shaped, pointed leaflets, sharply toothed on their edges. The 

 corolla has four, slightly leathery oblong divisions. There are very many stamens. The 

 seeds make a remarkable impression with their tufts or white, silky plumes that last 

 through part of the winter. 



FLOWERS: July and August, along the hedgerows of France. 

 NOMENCLATURE. German, gemeine waldrebe, bind-weide. 



