WILD CLEMATIS 



The Clematis stem does not twine, it puts forth no tendrils; the 

 leaf petioles do the work; they take a sort of sailor's knot about 

 outlying branches and twigs, and in this way the stem rises little 

 by little until, having reached the top, it spreads out its panicles 

 of white stars to the sunlight and rejoices in its success. 



The flowers are of two kinds, pistillate and staminate, borne 

 usually on different plants, sometimes on the same. The stami- 

 nate flowers have white plumy 

 stamens, those in the very 

 centre pale-yellow, while the 

 pistillate flowers have a bunch 

 of carpels giving them a green 

 centre. Frequently the pistil- 

 late flowers have stamens as 

 well, but these are often sterile, 

 made of filaments only — no 

 anthers. 



After fertilization the styles 

 do not fall off — on the con- 

 trary they begin to grow and 



become long, hairy tails to the seed-vessel beneath. Finally the 

 plant covers itself with these plumy, silvery-white bunches, and 

 becomes more noticeable even than when in flower. 



This long, trailing vine so adorned is the trophy of our autumn 

 walks, and we bring it home with the pods of the milkweed and 

 the autumn leaves. The species is worthy of cultivation as a fence 

 cover and to give wildwood effects; it is not as good a porch plant 

 as Clematis paniculata, and its flowers are not as fragrant as 

 ■ Clematis fldmmula. 



Leather- Leaf Clematis, Clematis vidrna, is a climbing vine with 

 pinnately compound leaves and curious thick, leathery flowers, 

 reddish-purple. Its seeds bear the characteristic feathery styles 

 and the stem climbs by its leaf-stalks after the family fashion. 



The plant is of Southern and South-western habitat and is cul- 

 tivated rather as an object of interest than for any horticultural 

 value. 



171 



Staminate Flowers of Clematis 



