THE HARDY WILD CLEMATIS 
259 
a form of C. orientalis this plant is so different 
that the question arises whether it should not 
appear as a distinct species. For while orient- 
^z/wblooms in autumn /'^7-^^^^//r<«bloomsinspring 
and upon the old wood, with flowers much 
larger and of a clear yellow. The leaves are 
more deeply and closely toothed, and carried 
upon longer stalks. It is hardy,andbesidebeing 
the best yellow-flowered Clematis, it blooms 
at a season when few others are in beauty. 
C Viorna. — The Leather Flower of the 
United States. An old plant of 8 to 10 feet, 
with pitcher-shaped purplish flowers on long 
stems. They open from June to August and 
the plant is not of sufficient 
merit to be worth much 
care. 
C.verticillaris. — A nother 
old kind from North Amer- 
ica, now rare in gardens. It 
is a trailing shrub of 8 to 
10 feet, with four trifoliate 
leaves from each joint, giv- 
ing a clustered effect. Soli- 
tary bluish-purple flowers 
2 to 3 inches across in May 
and June, composed of four 
thin silky sepals and a clus- 
ter of narrow inner petals. 
Syn. Atragene Americana. 
C .virginiana . — American 
Virgin's Bower. A good 
and vigorous plant widely 
spread over North America, 
growing 1 6 to 20 feet, with 
leaves of three leaflets and 
dull-white flowers about an 
inch across, produced very 
freely and later than in our 
Vitalba. They come in flat 
heads and with the sexes 
mostly apart, so that the 
plume-like fruits are rarely 
seen in this country. 
C. Vitalba. — The Traveller's Joy. A native 
climber and the most vigorous of them all, 
especially on chalky soils. Old plants with 
rope-like stems, will cover tall trees or hun- 
dreds of square yards, if allowed to trail freely 
in woodland. For the wood garden few thii-jgs 
are finer in effect, the dull white flowers with 
a faint scent of almonds being followed by 
feathery seed-tufts. 
C. Viticella. — Virgin's Bower or " Little 
Vine" of the south of Europe. Of rapid growth 
and free in its cross-shaped flowers of various 
N Autumn. 
colours, this plant, improved by 
cultivation and crossed with other 
kinds, has given us some of the best 
garden Clematis. The flowers, i 
to 2 inches across, are sweet and 
produced through a long season, 
in colour blue, purple, or rosy- 
purple with yellow stamens. 
Many charming garden varie- 
ties exist of which the best are 
alba., a white form somewhat 
more vigorous, growing well over low 
trees ; nana., with shoots of only 3 to 4 
feet, making a neat bush for the rock- 
garden ; and double forms with little ro- 
sette-like flowers of bluish-purple and mauve. 
Kermesinus has bright wine-red flowers, and 
lilacina-jioribiinda grey-lilac with darker veins. 
The white and rosy forms are very effective 
planted together. This kind is as free from 
seed as furze and often sows itself in hedge- 
rows where it comes in wreaths long after the 
May and Dog roses. It is not quite so vigorous 
as Vitalba., nor quite so pretty in its seed-clusters. 
