CLEMATIS FLORIDA. SIEBOLD’S CLEMATIS. 
Class XIII. PQLYANDRIA.— Order III. POLYGYNIA. 
Natural Order, RANUNCULACEAL THE CROW-FOOT TRIBE. 
Character of the Genus Clematis. Calyx corolla-like, four-leaved, leaflets valvate, or somewhat 
induplicate, in aestivation. Stamens indefinite situate beneath the ovaria. Ovaria many, free, one-cefled 
with one pendulous ovulum. Achenia many, sessile, caudate, with a naked or barbed style. Seed inverse. 
Description of the species. Clematis Florida, var. Sieboldi. Stem round, angular, or grooved, covered 
with soft hairs; its habit is branched and twining, varying from six to twelve feet in height. Leaves petio- 
late-ovate, lanceolate, more or less acuminate, smooth, with the exception of the veins which are more or 
less hairy; leaves are sometimes opposite, sometimes arranged in threes ; entire or laciniate; sometimes the 
leaves are wholly wanting, and in their place are substituted tendrils. Peduncles pubescent, in length 
various, those nearest to the flower usually about two lines long : those further removed from the flower, 
from one to two inches long. Pedicels pubescent, from two to four lines long. Flowers solitary, showy, 
large. Calyx of six whitish ovate lanceolate leaflets, acute, or ending in a sharp point, and alternately 
arranged. On the exterior side of the leaflets is a dark brownish green linear lanceolate streak, which runs 
from the apex to the base. Stamens, anthers, style, and stigma abortive, being metamorphosed into linear 
lanceolate leaflets, of a dark colour, and forming by that means what is called a double flower. 
We borrow the following passages from the agreeable work to which we have been so often indebted, 
the Flora Domestica. 
Clematis. Called frequently, virgin’s bower or traveller’s joy. — French, l’herbe au gueux [beggar’s 
herb;] laviorne; viorne des pauvres [poor man’s rest;] la consolation des voyageurs [traveller’s consolation ;] 
in the villages, vouabla, a corruption of the Latin name vitalba [white vine.] — Italian, vitalba; clematite. 
Clematis is derived from the Greek, and signifies a clasper. It fastens itself for support to any tree or twig 
within its reach. 
These are, for the most part, climbing plants, needing support, and should be placed where they may 
run up a wall or balcony. They will not flower so strongly in pots as in the open ground ; but must not, 
on this account, be rejected. The Evergreen Clematis would require to be planted in a tub of some mag- 
nitude : it grows to the height of eight or ten feet, and becomes very thick and bushy. The flowers are of 
a greenish colour, and appear in December or January. It retains its leaves all the year. — Gerarde gives it 
the name of Traveller’s Joy of Candia; Johnson, Spanish Traveller’s Joy; and Parkinson, Spanish Wild Climber. 
Purple Clematis grows naturally in the woods of Spain and Italy : there are several varieties, the 
Single Red-flowered, Blue-flowered, and Purple-flowered, and the Double. Purple ; which flower in June, 
July, and August: and another with white flowers, which appear in May. — Gerarde gives this species the 
name of Climbing Ladies’ Bower, “from its aptness,” he says, “to make bowers or arbours in gardens.” 
The Curled Clematis is a native of Carolina, Florida, and Japan ; the stalks grow near four feet high, 
and fasten themselves by their claspers or tendrils to the neighbouring plants. The- flowers are purple, and 
blow in July. 
The Oriental Clematis is a native of the Levant ; it has flowers of a greenish yellow colour, which are in 
blossom from July till October. 
The Upright Virgin’s Bower or Clematis Flammula, (in French, la flammule ; clematite odor ante . 
Italian, flammula:) grows naturally in many parts of Europe. The flowers are white, and continue in blossom 
from June till September. This is an acrid, corrosive plant, and inflames the skin, whence it has been 
named Flammula. 
“If one leaf,” says Miller, “be cropped in a hot day in the summer season, and bruised, and presently 
put to the nostrils, it will cause a smell and pain like a flame.” 
The Hungarian Clematis has blue flowers, which are in blossom from June to August. This and the 
last mentioned species have annual stems. 
All the kinds here enumerated, which are the handsomest, will live in the open air all the year. They 
should, in general, be watered about three times in a week, but in \^ry hot and dry weather every evening. 
There are some few species of the Clematis which require artificial heat, but they are by far the least 
handsome. The two last mentioned kinds may be increased by parting the roots, which should be done 
either in October or February. The roots may be cut through their crowns with a sharp knife, taking care 
to preserve some good buds to every offset. 
