Flora of North America species comparison

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Clematis crispa

blue-jasmine, curly clematis, curly virginsbower, marsh clematis, swamp leather flower
Stems

viny, to 3 m, glabrous or sparsely to moderately pilose-pubescent, denser at nodes.
Leaf

blade 1-2-pinnate or rarely a few simple or 3-foliolate;

leaflets 4-10 plus additional ± tendril-like terminal leaflet, usually lanceolate to ovate, occasionally linear, unlobed or proximally 3-5-lobed, (1.5-)3-10 × (0.1-)0.4-4(-5) cm, thin, not conspicuously reticulate;

surfaces glabrous, not glaucous.
Inflorescences

terminal, 1-flowered;

bracts absent.
Flowers

bell-shaped;

sepals distally strongly spreading to recurved, violet-blue, lanceolate, 2.5-5 cm, margins proximally thick and tomentose, distally broadly expanded, 2-6 mm wide, thin, crispate, less conspicuously tomentose than proximal portion, or glabrate, tips acuminate, abaxially glabrous.
Achenes

bodies appressed-puberulent;

beak 2-3.5 cm, appressed-puberulent.
2n

= 16.

Clematis crispa
Phenology Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Low woods, bottomlands, swamps
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Clematis crispa is highly variable in leaflet width, and conspicuous variation may occur on a single plant (R.O. Erickson 1943); no discontinuity or geographic correlation exists that would permit the recognition of varieties. The dilated, petaloid sepal tips and thin, crispate, broadly expanded sepal margins are diagnostic for this species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Ranunculaceae > Clematis > subg. Viorna
Sibling taxa
C. addisonii, C. albicoma, C. baldwinii, C. bigelovii, C. catesbyana, C. coactilis, C. columbiana, C. drummondii, C. fremontii, C. glaucophylla, C. hirsutissima, C. lasiantha, C. ligusticifolia, C. morefieldii, C. occidentalis, C. ochroleuca, C. orientalis, C. pauciflora, C. pitcheri, C. recta, C. reticulata, C. socialis, C. tangutica, C. terniflora, C. texensis, C. versicolor, C. viorna, C. virginiana, C. vitalba, C. viticaulis, C. viticella
Synonyms Viorna crispa, Viorna obliqua
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 543. (1753)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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