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Columbia clematis, rock clematis, Columbia virgins-bower

Columbia clematis

Habit Soft-hairy or sparsely woolly perennials with creeping or climbing, slender stems; plants scarcely viny in var. dissecta, found in the Wenatchee Mountains of Washington. Stems are short and tufted or, if viny, up to 0.5(-1.5)m long.
Leaves

Leaves opposite, ternate, firm but not succulent, the leaflets lance-ovate to triangular or sub-orbicular, lobed or unlobed, the margins entire or toothed.

Leaves lobed with crenate-serrate leaflets 15-6.5(-9) cm long, terminal, usually deeply lobed or ternate.

Flowers

Flowers solitary, terminal on short axillary branches on naked peduncles 5-15 cm. long;

sepals usually 4, ovate-lanceolate to elliptic-oblong, acuminate, 3.5-6 cm. long, violet-blue to pale blue;

petals none;

stamens numerous, the outer ones often sterile;

styles 3-6 cm. long, plumose, persistent.

Fruits

Achenes short-pubescent.

Clematis occidentalis

Clematis occidentalis var. dissecta

Flowering time May-July May-July
Habitat Often in deep, fine soils in shady forest, also in cliffs and other rocky sites in open woods and thickets, at moderate to high elevations in the mountains. Slopes and forest openings from foothills to moderate elevations in the mountains.
Distribution
Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to Oregon, east to Saskatchewan and Wyoming.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Endemic to Wenatchee Mountains and nearby ranges, Chelan, Kittitas, Okanogan Counties, Washington.
[BONAP county map]
Origin Native Native
Conservation status Not of concern Not of concern
Sibling taxa
C. hirsutissima, C. ligusticifolia, C. orientalis, C. vitalba
C. occidentalis var. grosseserrata
Subordinate taxa
C. occidentalis var. dissecta, C. occidentalis var. grosseserrata
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